Hungry For You
by YamiMagicianGirl
Summary: Fiery teens Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov both have reputations that preceed them... or do they? The two have been enemies for as long as they can remember, so what will happen when they are both drawn to be tributes in the Hunger Games?
1. The Reaping

HUNGRY FOR YOU 1

"Dimitri! Wake up. You have to get ready for the Reaping." Some corner of my mind registered Viktoria shaking me awake. My eyes fluttered open, staring into the anxious face of my youngest sister.

I threw my legs over the side of the small bed, turning to face my family: my mother Olena, my grandmother Yeva, my three sisters Sonya, Karolina, and Viktoria and my brother Paul.

I tried to keep the fear out of my eyes, my fiercely protective nature taking over. _Be strong, Dimitri, _I thought grimly. I glanced reassuringly at each of my sisters, their chocolate brown eyes identical to my own. They were all scared; that much was painfully obvious. Scared for themselves, for each other, for me, and for whichever poor souls were chosen today.

Today. A very significant day that came every year, weighing down on us—Reaping day. The day two teenagers, one boy and one girl, were chosen to fight to the death against twenty two others from all over Panem, all for the sake of entertainment in the Capitol. The Hunger Games was just another TV show—if a highly anticipated one – for them; something to talk about. I loathed them for that, because for us in the districts it was like a recurring doomsday. Watching the Games – which are mandatory viewing – is basically the Capitol's cruel way of telling us that we are absolutely at their mercy, that they own us. It's a nightmare, watching your friends, people you know and respect, be thrown out onto a battlefield and brutally murdered. Kids who should have had a chance at a long life; having that torn from them by other teenagers—or tributes, as they were officially known—who were in the same situation.

Being from District 12, the word 'tribute' is kind of synonymous with 'corpse', where as in the better off districts—say 1 or 2—that would be a completely different story. We called these tributes the 'careers'. They lived to enter the Games, vying for the role of tribute. They trained hard—even though technically, that's not allowed—and some cases, actually _volunteered_ to take the place of whoever has been drawn. As a tribute, they are your sole competition.

I looked anxiously at Viktoria. I knew I shouldn't have been worried because the games' voting system was working in her favour. The day you turn twelve, you become eligible for the Reaping, and your name is entered once. At thirteen, twice, and so on, right up to eighteen—the final year of eligibility—when your name is entered seven times. Viktoria, having turned thirteen this year, took two votes. Karolina, at fifteen, took four, and Sonya, at sixteen, took five. I had just turned eighteen, which made me eligible for the full seven votes.

But here's the catch: say you were poor and starving, as many of the families round here were. You can sign up for tessera, meaning one person gets a meagre years supply of grain and oil in exchange for another entry in the Reaping. But the votes are cumulative, so an eighteen year old getting seven people tesserae—I blatantly refused to let my sisters take any, and Paul was too young— means my name will be entered fifty six times into the Reaping ball. I've always done this, so even at the age of twelve, I had my name submitted eight times, which is more that some people will ever have to take.

If any of my sisters got chosen, there wasn't even anything I could do; only another female could volunteer to take their place. The most I could I do was take their tesserae, and pray for the best.

I dressed quickly, almost mechanically, in my best outfit. My sisters were all wearing dresses, and their hair was done.

There was a heavy cloud of despair and fear pressing down on us as we walked to the square, where the Reaping would take place. It's a shame; the square's one of the more pleasant places in the district, with some small shops peppered through it. I glanced around reflexively; it seemed we were some of the last to arrive.

My mother, grandmother and Paul had to leave us to stand in an area cordoned off for relatives. They didn't want to leave at all, but rules are rules. We were showered in hugs and kisses, and both my mother and my sisters had tears rolling down their cheeks. I remained stoic, not wanting to show how terrified I really was.

I led my sisters down the centre of the square, branching off into different roped off areas for each age group, with the youngest at the back and the oldest—like me—at the front.

The space grew tighter as more people arrived. The square's quite large, but not enough to hold District 12's population of about eight thousand. I joined the other eighteen year olds, issuing them a terse nod. I got an anxious smile and a small wave from my best friend, Gale Hawthorne. His name was entered forty eight times, tessera for the six members of his family. He glanced nervously back at the sixteens. I saw him lock eyes with his sister, Katniss. They looked almost identical, despite the age difference, with the straight, black hair and grey eyes that were so common in the Seam. He worried about her like it wasn't normal, and she really didn't need it. Katniss is the strongest girl I know. Well, with the exception of—

My eyes travelled along the line, and there she was, standing a few people down from Katniss: Rose Hathaway. The strongest, fiercest, toughest – and by far the most beautiful – girl in our school. Hell, maybe even in the whole of the Seam. All the guys wanted her, and I had once been one of them. But since then, we'd locked horns a few times, and she quickly lost all respect from me. After one particular incident a few years ago, we'd become sworn enemies.

Her eyes flicked up, like she knew I was watching, and she shot me a glare. I opened my mouth, ready to hurl an obscenity at her, but I was cut off by the annoyingly cheerful voice of Effie Trinket, District 12's escort. I turned unwillingly back to the stage. She appeared to be inviting the mayor up to the podium, but I only caught bits of the sentence because of her stupid Capitol accent. Mayor Undersee eventually stood up, clearing his voice before launching into the speech that never changed, year after year. I spaced out a bit, my thoughts on the coming events. Most of the families gathered here would celebrate tonight, safe for another year. But at least two would return home completely at a loss, having their child torn from them. There would be no celebration in such homes. They would draw the shutters and stay indoors to come to terms with such an awful turn of events.

Once again, it was Effie's voice that brought me back to reality. "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be _ever_ in your favour!" she chirped, her pinkish hair bouncing madly. She then started into her carefully rehearsed speech on what an honour it was to be here, but it was painfully obvious she was just counting down the days until she got promoted to a better district.

Adrian Ivashkov decided to make his appearance at that very moment. He was one of District 12 victors… of exactly two. The guy's always under the influence of some intoxicating substance, most often white liquor. Adrian is, in a word, a tribute's link to the real world—monitoring the giving of gifts and such—so it doesn't help that he can't even _walk_ straight ninety percent of the time. That is one of the many reasons which contribute to the ultimate fact: District 12 is the laughing stock of Panem. We're poor; we can't fight like the careers can; we never, _ever_, succeed in the Games. Our tributes are always among the first to go. Mainly because our mentor can't tell his right from his left.

As if to prove me wrong – yeah, right – Adrian tripped on the last step up to the stage, sending him flying towards Effie. She squealed as he crashed into her, shoving him back. Despite this, he leaned heavily against her side, swaying slightly. Effie shoved again, pushing him in the direction of his chair at the back of the stage. He collapsed into it, leaning his head on the mayor's shoulder, which got a few laughs.

Effie promptly stepped back up to the microphone, ignoring the chaos unfolding around her. "Let's begin the draw, shall we?" she trilled, straightening her awful wig, which was sitting slightly askew since her encounter with Adrian. "Ladies first!"

She moved to one of the large glass balls filled with tiny sheets of paper. She dug around, finally pulling out one of the slips. The wait was agonizing, I hoped it to God it wouldn't be one of my sisters.

"And our female tribute is…" The crowd drew in a collective breath, holding it, holding it…

"Rosemarie Hathaway!" Effie cried. My eyes searched for her in the crowd, briefly locking eyes with Sonya. I gave her a relieved smile. She returned it with a look of anxiety, her brown eyes wide and urging. She was still worried about me. I gave a slight shake of my head, and returned to searching for Rose. She was right where I had last seen her, standing just down from Katniss. She was staring behind her, at what I guessed were her parents. Someone beside her elbowed her sharply in the ribs, and she whirled round, eyes like death. They flinched back, and she pushed past them, walking stiffly towards the stage, her face expressionless. Typical Rose. She came to a stop beside Effie, head held high. Although I didn't like her, I had to admit that if anyone could win this, she definitely could. I almost admired her. _Almost_. She met my eyes, and I could see her mask starting to crack. I sneered and looked away.

Effie's smile brightened. _Here it comes,_ I thought. _The male tribute_. She moved to the other glass ball, digging her hand in deep.

And now for our male tribute!" she settled on a slip near the bottom, and drew it out of the ball. Fifty _six of those slips have my name on them_, I thought uneasily. Hell, the one in her hand might just have my name on it! Effie read the slip carefully, but didn't speak, prolonging the moment. I felt like I was going to be sick. I just kept thinking, 'not me, not me, not me, _please_ not me', over and over in my head.

"And our male tribute is…" Another collective breath from the audience, "Dimitri Belikov!" No. No _way_. This was not happening. This _could not_ be

happening. The full weight of the situation pressed down on me like a vice. Who would look after my family while I was gone? _What if I didn't come back? _Why the _hell_ did the female tribute have to be _Rose_?

Without thinking, I walked mechanically up to the stage, adopting a position similar to Rose's, tension crackling between us. I looked out into the crowd, meeting the eyes of Sonya, then Karolina, who were both crying. Viktoria stared straight up at me, though I knew she wanted to go insane. She could have quite a temper when she wanted to. I was proud of her; she would stay strong while I was gone.

I looked past her, right back to where the rest of my family was. My mother was sobbing, with Paul wrapped around her leg. He appeared to be crying too. My grandmother was looking at me almost… regretfully? Guiltily? I couldn't tell. She tried to force a small smile when she saw me looking, but I could see the pain in her eyes.

Effie clapped her hands, bringing the crowd to order. "Let's welcome this year's tributes from District 12!" she cried cheerfully. No one moved. Rose and I watched in silence as the crowd took part in the boldest form of dissent they could possibly manage. Complete and utter silence. Effie's smile gradually faded until it had disappeared completely.

She tried to begin wrapping up, but a certain Adrian Ivashkov interrupted.

"Look at these two," he slurred, almost incoherently and lurched forward. "I like them already! Strong, brave, and…" He reached forward faster than I would have expected, grabbing Rose and I in a headlock: one under each arm. We exchanged a brief glance, and an idea flashed between us. I just hoped we had the same one.

We both straightened up at the same time, taking a step back. I grabbed Adrian's arms, pulling them behind his back, at the same time Rose stuck her foot out. Adrian flailed, falling hard on his back. Everyone laughed; some even went as far as to shout out remarks on 'this years tributes'. The verdict seemed to be we actually had a chance this year. Nice to know we had the District on our side. I grinned at no-one in particular, and the two of us laughed quietly together as Effie peeled Adrian off the ground.

"Well, we'd best be getting on! One more time for Rose and Dimitri!" Effie cried to the crowd, taking control of the situation. I had a feeling she would be doing that a lot over the next few weeks.

The crowd erupted, whooping and whistling. I grinned at Gale, who nodded encouragingly. _Well, at least we'll be leaving the district on a high_, I thought to myself. Effie finally seemed to realise that the crowd would only get rowdier, and herded us offstage, into the Justice building.

"Well! That was a disaster!" Effie grunted from under Adrian's arm, where she was holding him up.

"Sure it was… Effie…" Adrian slurred in response.

Rose and I remained silent, our camaraderie shattered. Whatever had happened out there, it had been weird. Amazing, but weird. It had almost been like… we were thinking in synchronisation. But on the other hand, we were sworn enemies; I could start getting all friendly with her. It was blatantly obvious she felt the same as she stared at the floor.

"So… what now?" I asked hesitantly, breaking the heavy silence. Four peacekeepers entered, effectively answering my question. I followed them out in silence, Rose by my side. We were led down a long corridor, where we split off into separate rooms, myself and two peacekeepers in one, and Rose and the other two in another.

I sat down in a comfortable armchair, absentmindedly tracing patterns on my leg. Minutes later, the door opened to reveal my family. My mother ran forward, her body heaving with sobs, and pulled me into a tight hug. I rubbed soothing circles into her back. Sonya and Karolina talked quietly at the side of the room, their faces lined with grief. Viktoria appeared in the doorway, a determined look on her pretty face. She strode forward and took my hand. I was glad to see she wasn't crying; she would be able to look after everyone while I was gone.

"Dimitri. You have to win this thing, alright? I wont take no for an answer. Our family isn't strong without you." One small tear leaked down Viktoria's cheek, followed by another, and then another.

I wrapped my arms around her, holding her for what might be the last time. "I will, Vika. I _will_ win this." I murmured into her hair, and I really would try, for her.

"I'll miss you, big brother." She smiled up at me through her tears. I smiled back, kissing her head. "I'll miss you too, little sister." She grimaced before going to talk to Sonya and Karolina. My grandmother spoke from right behind me, making me jump.

"Should've warned you…" she muttered mysteriously. I raised an eyebrow.

"Warned me? Babushka, no-one could've predicted- Wait! You _knew_ about this? And you didn't think to _tell_ me?" I cried in exasperation. My grandmother had a strange gift; she was a witch of sorts. She had these really weird dreams that predicted reality. If anyone could've foreseen this, it was her. All eyes turned in my grandmother's direction.

"I had a dream a couple nights ago; you and Rose were drawn as tributes. I hoped it was wrong, but I guess not…" She rubbed her temples; her eyes sliding shut.

"Mama! You should have told us!" my mother cried boldly, though her eyes were flooded with tears.

"All it would have caused was unnecessary worry." She snapped in response. I couldn't really argue there. And besides, being a tribute isn't something I would want to know about in advance.

"You'd better start finishing up," one of the peacekeepers said quietly, "you have… one minute." I nodded gratefully.

My sisters all charged at once, smothering me, and not daring to let go. My mother bid me a tearful 'good luck', I got a high-five from Paul and an awkward hug from my grandmother.

"Any last minute advice?" I joked.

"Here. Your token." She held out a small gold pin with a flower engraved on it. I slipped it into my pocket without much examination.

"Roses, Dimka. Roses will turn out to be your greatest ally. They may have sharp thorns, but inside and out, they're still pure and beautiful flowers." She murmured ambiguously, "And Dimitri? Good luck."

"Thank you." I replied, sincere but confused. My family called their final goodbyes as they were herded out of the room.

I slumped back into a chair, letting just a few tears escape. _Man up, Dimitri_, I thought to myself in disdain. Reaching up with one hand to wipe my eyes, I took out the gold pin with another. I fingered it lightly, tracing the delicate contours. _'Roses are your greatest ally'_ was engraved around the edge in Russian. That confused me to no end. All my conclusions kept coming back to Rose. Being her ally: It was possible, but highly improbable.

I sat for almost fifteen minutes, wallowing in my own sadness and anxiety. During that time, I was visited by Gale and Katniss. I couldn't bear to see my family and friends so grief-stricken over me; it wasn't fair to them.

The same peacekeeper from before came in. "Your train will be ready soon." He spoke quietly, almost hesitantly. I liked him.

"Thank you." I replied, reaching up to probe my eyes for evidence that I had been crying. I wouldn't give the Capitol the satisfaction.

I followed the peacekeeper out the back of the building and toward the station in silence. We rounded the last corner, and the sight of the train caused my steps to falter slightly. It was longer, bigger, grander, than _anything_ I—or the rest of the Seam—had ever seen. When watching the Games, the viewers only got a small shot of the tributes getting on the train. But in real life, well let's just say there wasn't much about it that felt real.

The cameras noticed me then, and swivelled to face me. I didn't look at them, just focused on the open door of the train. I stepped up, into the grand hallway. The peacekeeper caught my arm. "Good luck, Belikov. I hope to see you back here someday." He smiled before releasing me.

"Thanks. I'm hoping the same." I replied, turning round to close the door of my luxurious prison.


	2. Acquaintance

**Hey guys! I am officially back from the Gaeltacht. It was awesome :D**

**And you know what I did while I was away? I wrote an exercise book and a half, all of _this_ story... Just because I love you guys... all 3 of you :D**

**That's about four chapters, so I just need to type them up, and we're on our way!**

**ATA xx**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 2 – Acquaintance<p>

"Rose? Rose! Oh God, I'm so sorry that this has had to happen to you." My mom cried as she pulled me into a tight hug. My mobster dad stood at her elbow and for once, he wasn't trying to lighten up the conversation. He forced me a sad smile when he noticed me watching.

"Rose!" my mom cried, shaking me. I turned my head back to her.

"Yeah?" I sighed.

"You have to ally with Dimitri."

…

"It's the only-"

"Dimitri? As in Dimitri _Belikov_? Are you kidding?"

"No! He's the only-"

"No. No way in _Hell_, mom."

"Rosemarie Hathaway! Let me finish! He's… Dimitri is the only person I would trust enough to look after you."

"Even after everything he's done to me?" I yelled.

"Rose, calm _down_. If you would just think logically for once in your life, you would see that Dimitri is the ideal ally. He's strong, smart, brave, _healthy_–"

"That's all you care about? _Skill_? You of all people _know_ how much Dimitri and I–"

"Hate each other? Of course I know, Rose. But if it's the difference between life and death, then don't you think you could stop being so childish and just put your differences aside?"

"So I'm being childish now?"

"Yes. Extremely." She stated. I growled at her.

"Janine." My father murmured soothingly, laying a hand on her arm. He then turned to me. "I think you should listen to your mother, Rose. I've seen Belikov at the school gym before. He is…" my father let out a small sigh of defeat. He hated it when mom was right. "He's amazing."

"Fine… I'll think about it." I grumbled. My mother nodded, visibly relieved.

"I just don't want to lose you." She said sadly.

"I know, mom. I'm just being a teenager." I told her, just as Peacekeeper Stan Alto – my old gym teacher – stuck his head round the door.

"Two minutes." He said, pointedly not looking at me. Stan and I had had a troubled relationship, back in the day. He had a reputation for humiliating people – especially me – and I had a reputation for putting up a fight – especially against him. We were always trying to one-up each other, which greatly entertained my peers.

My mom nodded thanks, and he left.

"I love you, Rose. Don't forget that, 'k?" she mumbled into my shoulder.

"I wont, mom." I smiled sadly. She gave me one last meaningful look before going to stand stoic against the wall. Typical Peacekeeper. My old man quickly took her place.

"Have fun, _Rosie_." He said lightly, forcing a smile.

"I sure will, _Zmey_." I grinned. He hugged me tight for a second before pulling back – because Stan had made his reappearance.

"Time's up." He stated, trying to herd my parents out. My mom blew me a kiss before stepping outside. She knew not to mess with Peacekeepers. My dad, however, was a different story. Sure, he almost went quietly, but at the last second, he turned back to me. I almost laughed at the peeved look on Stan's face.

"Rose! One more thing: the Games are _nothing_ like they seem on TV…" Stan began to tug his arm in the direction of the door. "… I love you, baby." The door closed with a soft thud behind him.

"–Wait! What? I –I –I guess I love you too…" I told the wall.

I paced the luxurious room anxiously. Even though I hated him, it was comforting to know that Dimitri was next door, going through the same thing as I was.

After about ten minutes, Stan reappeared.

"Your train is ready." He drawled monotonously, directing me out into the hallway. I followed him out of the building and down a long road to where the train was waiting. We turned the final corner, and I could physically feel my jaw dropping. The train was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Its grandeur looked out of place on the drab streets of District 12. As I stepped up onto the platform, the cameras all swivelled to face me, and I got blinded by flashbulbs. I continued walking with my head held high, not daring to look around me. Stan caught my arm just as I reached the door. I turned my head slightly.

"Uhm… Good luck, Hathaway." He forced a smile. "I know we haven't always seen… eye-to-eye, but I really hope you and Belikov bring this thing home. Out of all the students I've taught in fifteen years, you two stood out from them all. You have outstanding potential in this kind of thing… Don't waste it, Rose." I almost cried. Stan had never –_ever_– said anything nice to me, much less call me _Rose_.

"Thanks Stan. That means a lot." I grinned, and turned to get on the train.

Effie was waiting for me.

"Rose!" she trilled. "Let me show you your room!" she turned and skittered down the hallway, stopping at a heavy oak door labelled 201. She opened it slowly, flourishing grandly to the luxury within.

"I'll leave you to it. Dinner at seven!" she called as she headed back down the hall.

I shut the door quietly behind her, glad to be left alone. I turned to face my room, which was overwhelming. Grandeur leaked from everything. The plush leather sofas, the plasma screen TV, the sleek mahogany coffee table, and the massive four-poster bed. Mouth-watering as the furniture was though, I walked right past it all, into the bathroom in search of a shower. It was hard to miss: bigger than our kitchen table, black marble, with hundreds of buttons and dozens of jets poised at different angles. I undressed quickly, and after some fiddling with the temperature dial, I had hot water streaming down around me. I started to press random buttons, which led to being pelted with alternating jets of cold water, having gel that smelled –typically enough– like roses poured all over me, and being showered in flower petals. I eventually found the shampoo, and then the shower gel. I stayed in the shower for longer than I should have, letting the water loosen my muscles after the tense day.

I towelled myself hastily, and walked to the large dresser in the suite. I scanned through the different outfits, settling on a blood red tank-top and a pair of grey sweatpants. They fit perfectly –of course- and after a quick check of the clock, I was on my way to dinner.

Adrian and Effie were already seated, but there was no sign of Dimitri. I turned my head slightly to one side, trying to be subtle in my searching. A tap to the shoulder sent me whirling round on my heel. It had been like tiny sparks had flowed into me from-

"Dimitri." Three cheers for Captain Obvious.

"So you finally found me?" he asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Found you? When was I ever-"

"Looking for me?" he finished.

"Exactly."

"Don't lie to me, Rose. I saw you searching for me." his tiny smile turned into a full-blown grin. I stuck my tongue out at him. He wrinkled his nose in response.

"You smell like roses." He stated.

"Not intentional. The shower doesn't like me." I told him, going to sit beside Effie. He chuckled softly before taking his seat.

Our food was brought out soon after: a meaty stew with strange orange sauce. Though we had stew a lot in 12, it didn't remind me of home. The beef was so undercooked it was almost raw, and the sauce was made from a very strange combination of ingredients; certainly ones _I_ wouldn't put in a stew. I could taste cinnamon, paprika, chives, honey, lemon juice, mustard and apple juice, to name a few. Surprisingly, when put together, it really was delicious. All of the vegetables were cut into different shapes and the plate was decorated with tiny jellies that tasted like cherries. All in all, a very pretty dish. We ate in silence, and I began to ponder the Quarter Quell. This year was the seventy fifth Hunger Games, and every twenty five years –instead of the normal Games- there was a Quarter Quell, which happened a bit differently. From what I'd heard, at the first Quell, the tributes were chosen from previous victors, and at the second one, the tributes were sent into the arena without any weapons. This year, they were keeping it all very hush hush, promising that all would be revealed on the night of the opening ceremony.

I lifted my head from my plate, signalling to a man standing silently in the doorway.

"Can I get some more of this…? Please?" I added politely. He nodded wordlessly, and walked away with my plate. Effie followed soon after, explaining that she needed the 'loo'.

"So, Adrian, got any advice for us?" Dimitri asked.

"Uhm… Don't get killed… and, um, stay alive." He slurred with a lazy grin. I looked on in disgust, as did Dimitri. I glanced over at him just as he did the same, and a spark of intuition flashed between us. Just like that, I knew what the plan was. I went to stand at Adrian's left shoulder, with Dimitri at his right. He gave a small nod, and we pulled Adrian backwards, out of his chair. Dimitri threw him up against the wall, holding him off the ground with one arm. His rock-hard muscles rippled and pulsed and, though I hated him, I couldn't help but swoon. I _am_ only a girl, after all. Adrian turned his panicked eyes to me, as if to say _'get this madman off of me!'._ I stared back unwaveringly.

"You're going to need to do better than that. Our _lives_ are in your hands. That's not something you want to mess around with. Hell, you don't want to mess with _us_." Dimitri growled.

Adrian nodded wordlessly.

"We want you to sober up, Adrian." I finished, summing up in a sentence what it took Dimitri a whole speech to say.

"I… I can do that." He whispered.

"Good. Break our pact and I'll break your face. Capiche?" I tried to raise one eyebrow as I awaited an answer. Failure.

"Capiche." Adrian choked, staring pointedly at Dimitri – who was still holding him up. He let go immediately, going to sit back down. Adrian slid down the wall and landed on the floor with a thud. Picking himself up wearily, he too went to sit down. I sat beside him this time; for fear that Dimitri would knock his lights out. Adrian, still looking terrified, lifted his glass to his lips - which was full of red wine. I caught his wrist, forcing it back down – like a really screwed up arm-wrestle. Adrian set the glass down, patting it gently before pouring himself a glass of water. I grinned.

"Im back!" Effie trilled, breaking the tense silence. She took her seat beside Dimitri with a seriously confused look.

"Why the changed seating arrangement?" she asked.

"Dimitri-" Adrian began. Dimitri shot him a murderous glare, and he shut up.

"Musical chairs." I laughed. "Good game, right guys? I won, of course."

"Yeah… Good game…" Adrian muttered.

"Aw, sore loser Adrian?" Effie asked, swallowing the whole story like the sucker she is. My food made its appearance right after – an even bigger portion than before. I tucked in, finishing it off in record time. If you had seen me, you would think I hadn't eaten in weeks! I lifted my head and slumped back in the chair, holding my stomach.

"Uhhhh…" I groaned.

"Where did you _put_ all that?" Effie cried, signalling for the servers to collect our plates. Dimitri stared at me incredulously, and Adrian looked… Impressed.

"My _stomach_?" I answered sarcastically. Effie gave a small 'oh' and turned to Adrian.

"You're awfully quiet tonight, Adrian. Cat got your tongue?"

"Um… No… Just had a bit of a… wake-up call, is all." Adrian replied, casting us a fearful glance.

"Nice choice of words." I muttered.

"Oh? Do tell!"

"No… Forget I said anything."

"Oh… Alright then, if you insist…" Effie sighed, standing up. "Best be off… Places to be, people to see!"

"Good luck with that!" I called as she left. "She does realise that we're on a train, right?" I joked. Adrian laughed.

"Let's just leave her to figure it out, shall we?" He asked before disappearing down the hallway. Dimitri stood suddenly soon after and walked out without so much as a glance in my direction.

"Touchy." I muttered, making my way back to my room.

I undressed quickly, leaving my clothes in a pile on the floor. I sighed happily as I slid between the thick sheets, falling asleep almost instantly.

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><p>NEXT AFTERNOON<p>

"The Capitol!" Effie cried, flourishing to the sprawling city zooming past the train's window. Dimitri and I just stared, open-mouthed.

We arrived outside the training centre to TV cameras and a large audience. I groaned internally. Huddled in a group, Adrian, Effie, Dimitri and I began to walk slowly toward the looming building. _Too_ slowly. I grabbed onto someone's hand, a strong, sort-of familiar hand that sent inexplicable sparks up my arm. I began to tow him along, and then gradually, _he _began towing _me_. Dimitri was in plain view now, so I winked mischievously and let go of his hand.

"On your marks…" I called.

"Get set…" he replied.

"GO!" I cried, running full tilt for the training centre. Dimitri caught up quickly, and we hit the doors at the same time with a loud slap.

"We kick _ass_, Comrade!" I laughed, holding my hand up for a high-five.

"Comrade?" he asked, a ghost of a smile washing over his lips.

"Yeah. Comrade. It fits."

"Is there any way we could maybe drop-" he asked, though he seemed pleased that I had thought him up a nickname instead of hurling insults at him.

"No dropping anything! It stays… _Comrade_." He beamed at me. Wow, he was _very_ pleased with his new nickname. Adrian and Effie walked up just then, heading on into the building.

"Let's get to floor 12, shall we?" Effie asked, guiding our small group to a large, luxurious elevator. We bundled inside, and I insisted that I be the one to press the button.

"Floor 12, coming right up!" I cried, making strange noises as we ascended. When the doors opened, I set off down the hall with a loud "_weeeeeeeeeee!_" which earned me a few strange looks. I felt ecstatic but I couldn't figure out why. I decided to just roll with it.

Effie, Adrian and Dimitri came to a stop beside me. Effie pointed to the door to our left.

"That's your room, Rose." She then gestured to the door opposite. "That one's yours, Dimitri. Adrian and I are just at the end of the hallway if you need anything. We'll see you tomorrow!" she turned, dragging Adrian by the arm toward their rooms.

"I'll –um– see you later, I guess." Dimitri said quietly from beside me.

"Yeah, I guess you will…" I replied, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"Goodnight Rose." He sighed, almost inaudibly. I reached up – way up, this guy was _tall_ – to wrap my arms around his neck. He responded almost immediately, resting his hands on the small of my back. This might not have been the best thing to be thinking about, but he smelled _amazing_. His aftershave was making me feel a bit woozy.

"Goodnight Dimitri." I replied. He rested his chin on my head for a second longer, then tilted his head downwards, kissing me gently on the forehead. He turned and walked into the room without another word. We may not be friends – yet – but I knew right then, we definitely weren't enemies anymore.

* * *

><p>NEXT AFTERNOON<p>

I felt raw. Numb, even. I had been poked, prodded, waxed, preened and polished all morning. I was excited now though – to meet my stylist.

"We are your stylists. This is Cinna, and I'm Portia. As one might think, we will be taking care of all aspects of style during your… stay in the Capitol. Rose, you're with Cinna. You're with me, Dimitri. Tonight is the night of the opening ceremony. We will spend today prepping you, and making you look presentable." Portia said cheerfully, with only a slight hint of a Capitol accent. Dimitri went to stand by her side, and I by Cinna's. He shot me a small, amused smile before leaving the room. I followed close behind him, matching his graceful gait. He led me into a large, seemingly sterile room that had obviously been set up for a makeover. It was furnished with only a dressing table, a stool, a full-length mirror, a trolley full of god knows what, and a starched white garment bag hanging from the doorknob.

Cinna gestured for me to sit down. "Hello Rose. I'm Cinna. It's lovely to meet you." He said quietly.

"Hey Cinna," I smiled, "It's nice to meet you too. Are you new to the Games? I don't think I've seen you around before…"

"Yes, this is my first year."

"Unlucky. The new guy always gets District 12."

"No no, I asked for it."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because it's where I grew up." He shrugged. Well, it would explain his lack of stupid accent, I thought to myself.

"But how did you-"

"Get here? Hard work and ambition. You can do anything if you put your mind to it."

"I _do_ believe I've heard that before." He laughed. "So! What am I wearing?"

"I'll show you later…" he grinned easily. "For now, we're concentrating on make-up."

He set to it soon after. I kind of got the feeling he was going for classic. Cinna applied a light coat of foundation and concealer, chatting easily to me. He then brushed on some bronzer, making my jaw-line and cheekbones look more pronounced. Some smoky eyeshadow, black eyeliner, mascara and red lipstick later, and voila, I was finished.

"What do you think?"

"I think it looks amazing."

"I decided to go neutral with the foundation, but bold around the eyes and lips to match your dress. I didn't see much point in caking you in make-up when you're beautiful without it."

"Thank you." I smiled. I liked Cinna. He wasn't like the average Capitol citizen: ostentatious and arrogant. He was sweet, quiet and kind. But then again, I shouldn't have been surprised; he _did_ grow up in District 12. We didn't have anything to be snobby about there.

Cinna took my hair down out of its messy ponytail, threading his fingers through it gently. It waved down to my mid-back, so dark it was almost black.

"You have amazing hair." He sighed. "You know, I might just leave it down the way it is." He pawed through the bottles on the dressing table, selecting a small, unassuming aerosol can.

"Close your eyes." He warned, spraying through my hair quickly and professionally. I opened my eyes to find my hair shimmering like it had tiny diamonds implanted in it.

"Can I see my dress now?" I asked, bouncing in the seat. As an answer, Cinna walked to the garment bag, zipping it back quickly.

"What do you think?"

"Oh, Cinna… I think… I think it's the most beautiful dress I've ever seen."

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><p><strong>Hope you liked it guys :D<strong>

**I should be updating soon, but i have to write for my other two stories as well, so sorry if it's a bit late! Dont kill me!**

**I'm currently working on another story too... for Vampire Academy. I'll post the link when I have the first chapter done :)**


	3. Obligation

**Hello again! I thought I would work extra hard and give you guys another chapter today... Because I love you all :D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 3 – OBLIGATION<p>

DPOV

I felt jittery as I waited in the musty basement of the training centre. In five minutes time, the whole of Panem would be watching me. _Me_. Dimitri Belikov. _Man up, It's just a few cameras_, I thought to myself. I glanced down at all the other tributes, standing stiffly, not talking. Even regarding the fact that in a few weeks time, we would all be trying to kill each other, I realised then how bad it looked, not having some sort of friendship with your fellow tribute. I decided to make a better effort to talk to Rose.

She was the only one not yet present. Typical. She had always been late for class back home. A collective gasp shot through the other tributes as I watched. The girls looked envious, the boys almost… lust-filled. They were all staring at me. I began to panic, only then realising that they were looking behind me…

Someone tapped my shoulder lightly. I turned slowly, taking in the sight before me.

"Roza." I whispered, for that was about all I could say. She looked… breathtaking. Literally. Her dress was made from a wispy material, draping gracefully over her curvy figure. It was crimson and orange, shot through with tiny bits of black, green and blue. Tiny gems were embedded in the folds of her dress, and in her hair, making her shimmer when she moved. It had no straps and was pulled in at the waist, flowing gracefully to the ground. I noticed that she had a train too, which would look amazing on the chariot. When she walked it looked like flames were engulfing her. I suddenly felt very insignificant in my plain black tuxedo.

"You look-" we both began, and then laughed.

"You first." She said.

"Rose, you look absolutely… Amazing. Stunning. Beautiful. I can't even begin to tell you how much." I said honestly. She beamed at me.

"Thanks. You look very… dashing." She grinned. "Best looking guy here, Comrade."

"Thanks." Her comment made my heart beat a tiny bit faster, though I didn't know why. Reflex reaction, I guess.

Adrian chose this moment to appear, sober for once.

"We ready?" he asked, slapping me on the back. I nodded tensely, as did Rose.

"You know, you two are gonna make an awesome team. I can feel it." He mused.

"Yeah, 'course we know." Rose grinned. Effie then rushed over.

"Come on! Up up up! You need to get yourselves in position!" she began to tow us toward our chariot: black with a red '12' painted on the side.

"Ladies first." I said, affecting a posh accent as I held my hand out. Rose took it, stepping gracefully up onto the chariot. She then turned and not so gracefully hoisted me up beside her. I chuckled.

Effie, Adrian, Cinna and Portia walked to the front to take a look at us. We got squeals of joy, a nod of approval, thumbs up and-

"Something's missing…" Adrian muttered.

"Adrian! Now is not the time! The chariots are beginning to pull out!" Effie shrieked, looking like she was about to have a fit.

"Hold hands." Cinna suggested quietly.

"What? But that's not-"

"Yeah, hold hands." Adrian agreed. I reached out and took Rose's hand in my own.

"Perfect." He said, giving us thumbs as the chariot pulled out.

Being from District 12, we were the last to leave. The crowd was going crazy for the first eleven districts, and there was a moment of awkwardness when we appeared, just as there always was for 12. I winced, waiting for the silence that didn't come. The crowd took one look at us and began to rant and scream out our names – even louder than for the tributes before us. Rose grinned at the response, waving out to the people of Panem. I followed suit, and the other tributes were soon forgotten. The crowd was ours.

The chariots took their traditional route around the square, but instead of heading back to the training centre, we stopped outside President Snow's mansion. He was waiting for us outside, along with Caesar Flickerman, who would be interviewing us next week. Snow stepped up to the microphone.

"We have come together tonight to celebrate the beginning of the 75th Hunger Games, and the third Quarter Quell since the uprising. I will now pass you over to Mr. Caesar Flickerman for more details on the upcoming Games." There was a smattering of applause throughout the square, which got louder as Caesar stepped up, his metallic silver hair glinting in the moonlight.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and of course, our tributes! Welcome to the 75th Annual Huger Games!" he hollered. That got a huge applause. "So, what's going to happen with the Quarter Quell, I hear you ask. Well, I have some very exciting news for you. This year we will not have one victor… But _TWO_!" An excited _'oooooh!'_ echoed around the square.

"And not just any two! This year, we are allowing the two tributes from each district to work as a team, and win together! What do we think of _that_?" he cried. The crowd erupted, roaring their approval, but I only had eyes for one person. Rose was glowing, her face radiant. I beamed down at her, pulling her into a bear hug. I now understood what Babushka had been trying to tell me, _'roses are your greatest ally.'_ We could both live now. I couldn't even begin to say how overjoyed I was. Rose stood up carefully on her tiptoes, so her face was level with mine.

"We are gonna win this thing Dimitri." She whispered. "I know we can do it." If we made it back to the District, maybe I could tell her-

"Yeah, I think we'll make a good team. Sometimes-" I stopped, would she think I was crazy?

"Sometimes what?" she asked.

"I'll tell you later." I told her, kissing her forehead. I looked out over her head to where the other tributes were standing. They seemed to be acknowledging each other a bit more, now that they were allies. Surprisingly, most were looking at us. There was a mix of different expressions on their faces, ranging from disgust to intrigue to envy. It dawned on me then that Rose and I probably looked like a couple. I pulled back from her, turning back to Caesar. I could see Rose frowning in my periphery, which in turn made me frown.

Caesar said his goodbyes, and the horses started up again. We both jolted forward, and Rose gripped my hand tightly. The training centre wasn't far, so it wasn't long before we were dismounting our chariot and heading back to floor 12.

We walked into the dining room, where Cinna, Portia, Adrian and Effie were waiting. We were smothered in hugs, kisses, and tear of joy.

"You two are really something, you know that?" Adrian murmured, shaking his head. "That was _the_ best reaction I have _ever_ seen towards tributes, let alone tributes from _12_."

"You left the other tributes in the dust!" Portia piped up.

"Did anyone see District 6?" Effie chirped. Adrian groaned.

"I'm so proud of you guys." Cinna smiled, pulling us into a hug.

We sat down at the table, ready to watch a play-back of the ceremony.

"Watch the crowd at this part." Cinna pointed to the shocked faces of the audience as we entered. The shock soon turned to adoration, and we were on our way. We definitely stood out from the other tributes, who were dressed up as the exports from their districts. The only tributes who even came close to us were the ones from District 6. The girl was wearing a gold Greek style dress that hung gracefully over her tall, thin frame. The boy was wearing a suit similar to mine, except with a metallic silver tie. District 6: gold and silver. Cinna had taken a different turn. Our export was coal, but instead of sending us out as coal-miners, he had sent us out as fire. We were unforgettable: Rose with her beautiful dress flowing out behind her like a trail of fire, and I with my striking suit, the black standing out against the orange. I wanted to take that memory and keep it in my mind forever; we were just so… in harmony out there. That actually seemed to be happening a lot lately. The play-back lasted about twenty minutes. We turned back to each other.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Cinna! That dress was amazing! You. Are. Amazing!" Rose cried, her eyes glowing with pride for her friend.

"Thank you Portia. I understand the black suit now." I said sincerely. Earlier, I had questioned her, suggesting that it might be too plain. But Portia had told me it would all work out, and it had.

"Alright, enough of the pleasantries. You kicked ass out there, that much we can all see. But let's talk strategy. First, do you have a plan for when you reach the Arena? And second: skills. What can you guys do?" Adrian asked seriously. Rose was daydreaming, so I decided to take the lead.

"Um… I can use a bow and arrows efficiently, I'm a strong swimmer, I know about edible and poisonous plants, I won the boys sparring competition last year, I can throw a knife with accuracy, and I can use both swords and stakes." I told him. Though I hated to sound like I was showing off, I knew it was essential.

"And he's an awesome runner." Rose added. Adrian gave a low whistle before turning to her. "So Rose, what's in _your_ skill set?"

"I can kick ass. 'Nuff said." She replied, cracking her knuckles. I laughed, but Adrian's face just grew stonier.

"I'm serious Rose. _What can you do?_"

"Um… I can stun opponents with my beauty?" she questioned. "_And_ I have abs… Look!" she pulled at the dress until her stomach was exposed. Sure enough she _did_ have abs, rock hard from years of intense exercise.

"Rose…" Adrian growled. She pulled her dress on, not meeting his eyes. I decided to come to her rescue. I cleared my throat before launching into the list in my head.

"Rose is also an 'awesome runner'. We were both on the track team. She won the girls sparring competition, she has a fierce, protective, _determined_ attitude, she can also use a bow and arrows, and a sword with accuracy. I'd say her weapon of choice would be hand-to-hand combat or a dagger of some sort… A stake, maybe?" The information was coming at a hundred miles an hour, and I had no idea where from. Rose let out a small gasp.

"Wow… 12 actually has some contenders this year. You two could win this!"

"Well, I don't know about-" I began.

"Anyway." Adrian continued. "This year, the Gamemakers have agreed to provide you all with a gym –one for each district."

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, they figured that a week and a half wasn't long enough for someone to actually gain an advantage through working out, and –apparently– it'll make the Games more _interesting_."

"What? How?" I asked incredulously.

"The tributes won't be as weak, therefore they won't be killed as easily, and _therefore_, the Games will last longer."

"Wait… Hold up. We have a _gym_? Why did I not hear about this?" Rose cried suddenly.

"It was a secret."

"Where is it?" Adrian acted out buttoning his lips, grinning the entire time.

"_Adrian Ivashkov, so help me I will-_"

"Down the hall, fourth door on the left." Adrian replied in a rush, on doubt recalling the night on the train. Rose sprinted out, with me following close behind. I had never been to a real gym before, just the old one in our school.

She ran up to the door, but then stopped.

"I don't want to see it yet. I gonna get changed first." She eyed my suit. "I think you should too. If I go in there in this dress, I won't be able to leave again to get changed." She admitted.

"Me neither. I'll meet you back here in five."

I headed in the direction of my room, fantasizing about the gym. It would have to be stocked with all the best equipment or it wouldn't be the Games. They _lived_ for top of the line. I jogged the rest of the distance, opening the door quietly. I walked to the large dresser, searching through the brand new clothes. I pulled out a pair of charcoal grey sweatpants and a skintight black thermal top. There was a pair of sneakers sitting by the bed, and I pulled them on.

I ran to the gym, not wanting to wait any longer. Rose was waiting –not so patiently– outside the door. I caught my breath. She had her long, dark hair tied back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a dark blue cropped sports top – skintight – a pair of white shorts and white sneakers. She grinned when she saw me staring.

"See something you like?" she asked seductively. I bit back from saying _'plenty'_ and cleared my throat instead. I opened the door without looking inside.

"Ladies first." I said. The gym must've been good because Rose's face lit up.

"Cut the crap, Dimitri. Come on!" she pulled me inside, and we both stopped short.

It was amazing. Everything was shiny, modern and brand new. There was two of every piece of exercising equipment anyone could ever need: running machines, cross trainers, weight lifting machines, exercise balls, rowing machines, and right in the centre of the room was a sparring ring. At the far side, there was a small set of bleachers, where Adrian, Effie, Cinna and Portia were already seated. Rose and I moved around the room, trying every single piece of equipment. We ended up in the sparring ring last. I took up an offensive stance. Rose mirrored it, trying to look alert, but I could see her eyes raking up my body, finally meeting my eyes. I had shed my shirt when we were weight lifting, and she only seemed to notice now.

"See something you like?" I asked, repeating her earlier words. She swallowed hard and stepped forward, game face in place.

"First lesson in combat: Don't get distracted." I told her with a grin. She ignored me.

"Ready? Go!" she yelled, running at me. I tried to flip her over my back, but she anticipated it and tried to knock me down from behind. I expected that though, and jumped back, whirling round with a roundhouse kick. She caught my foot, sending me stumbling. She then ran at my stomach, ready to pin me, but I stepped to one side at the last minute, catching her around the waist. I threw her backwards, and she landed on her back, hard. Her ponytail holder had fallen out, and her hair was splayed messily around her face. I jumped down on top of her, my legs flush with hers, leaning down until we were face-to-face.

"Ou-" I had been about to break the news that she'd lost the spar, but at the last second, she pushed me with all her strength and we rolled over, so _she_ was on top of _me_.

"So that's how you want to play, is it?" I muttered, pulling her round in such a way that when I stood up, I had her bridal-style in my arms. She started beating against my bare chest.

"Dimitri Belikov, put me _down_!" she yelled, squirming about. Our small audience laughed, but when I looked up to them, Adrian almost jumped out of his skin and hid whatever was in his hand below the seat, out of my line of sight. I didn't think much of it, and turned back to Rose.

"Round 2?" I asked casually, setting her down. She pouted before running at me – again. I turned and caught her easily round the waist.

"I thought you would've learned your lesson by now, Rose. And the battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yell next time."  
>"Would it have really made a difference if I'd been quiet?"<br>"No, probably not." I agreed. She sighed. "You have to be more… Subtle."

"You sound like my mentor or something." She grumbled.

"Mr. Belikov." I grinned.

"No, that doesn't sound right… Master Belikov?"

"Master? Nah… What about… _Guardian_ Belikov?"

"Guardian? As in like, guardian angel?"

"No, as in guard! Well, I suppose I could be your guardian angel too." I chuckled.

"Guardian Belikov… I like it! Not as much as I like Comrade though… Comrade."

"Quit flirting and spar already!" Adrian yelled. We both turned to glare at him.

"Okay… I'm sorry. Take your time…" he stammered.

I settled back into my offensive stance and so did Rose. I lunged, my fist flying at her side. Her hand lashed out, batting me away. She didn't notice me sticking my foot out as she stepped back, and she stumbled. She then tripped on her own feet and began to fall at an unnatural angle, hip first. My hand shot out, catching her just before she hit the ground. I pulled her up so that she stood flush to me, except her head only reached my chest. She looked up at me with those big, brown eyes. We stood there for who knows how long, in an almost trance-like state. Rose grinned suddenly, and pushed me backwards.

"Lesson number 1: Don't get distracted." She said, doing a fair imitation of my voice, getting my faint Russian – or so I'd been told –accent just right. She then turned to Adrian. "Hey Adrian! I told you I could stun opponents with my beauty!" she called. He chuckled. Turning round again, she reached for my hand, and pulled me up.

"Just out of interest, what's lesson number 2?" she asked with a crooked smile.

I chuckled, and then grew serious. "Don't hesitate. That hesitation could get you killed. Remember, it's you or them."

"Oh." She said quietly. "I think that's enough sparring for tonight, don't you?"

"Yeah, let's go." I looked up to where Adrian & Co. were sitting, and he hid whatever was in his hand _again_. It was starting to get extremely frustrating. Shaking my head, I followed Rose out, waiting for the others to join us.

"That was some awesome sparring guys." Cinna told us, waving goodbye before leaving.

"Yeah… Sparring." Adrian muttered. "More like getting it on."

"Hey! That was _totally_ sparring!" Rose cried in defence.

"Effie, when's our session with the Gamemakers?" I asked quietly.

"This time next week, and then your interview is the night after that."

"'K, thanks. Come on Rose." I chided, and she reluctantly followed me to our rooms.

"Night Dimitri." She yawned, opening her door.

"Goodnight Roza…" I murmured, suddenly tired.

"Roza…? What's a roza?"

"I'll tell you in the morning."

"You have a lot of things to tell me in the morning." She stated.

"Yes, I do." I said quietly before closing my door.

* * *

><p>I had been lying in bed now for about three hours, and sleep still hadn't found me. I sat up in a daze, and decided to go for a walk. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants over my boxers and slung a hoodie over my arm before leaving the room.<p>

I looked up and down the corridor, checking off the doors. There was only one that remained a mystery to me, so I decided to investigate. The door was ajar and there was a cool breeze wafting through the crack. I pulled the door back silently to reveal a flight of rough concrete steps. I climbed them slowly, trying to avoid making any noise. I ended up on what looked like the roof of the training centre. Looking around me, I saw the reason that the door was ajar. I padded silently up behind Rose, stopping a few feet away.

"Hey Comrade." She said without turning round.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Guardian secrets… Guardian Belikov." She laughed, turning to face me.

"Hmph… Aren't you cold?" she was only wearing a tank-top and a pair of shorts.

"No." I reached over to touch her arm, and drew back quickly.

"No?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Maybe a tiny bit…"

"You're freezing! How long have you been out here?"

"A few hours…" she sighed. I held out my hoodie to her. She deliberated for a second before putting it on.

"It's huge!" she laughed, trying to find her hands. The hoodie came down almost to her knees.

"I'm huge." I chuckled.

"True…" she sighed, looking away. "Dimitri?"

"Yes?"

"Is it later?"

"I guess…"

"What were you going to say earlier? Sometimes…?"

"Sometimes… I feel like our thoughts and actions are almost… in sync… and we can –kind of– predict the others moves… sometimes." I had never been so lost for words. My eyes slid shut as I waited for to question my sanity.

"You thought that too? Like on Reaping Day and that time with Adrian?" She asked thoughtfully. I gaped at her. She had felt it too.

"And when we were sparring too. It was like you knew what I was going to do before I did it."

"And when you knew what my weapon of choice was…" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I got it right?"

"Absolutely. I've never even told anyone I could use a stake… I used to go under the fence in the meadow and practice out in the forest."

"But it's on your necklace." She pulled her token out from under the hoodie's hem: a thin chain with a silver stake dangling from it.

"You noticed that? Most people think it's a butter knife…" I chuckled.

"My father taught me how to use a stake. And a bow and arrows. And a sword. And he taught me how to throw a knife. We used to go out into the forest too… That's how he… he…"

"Dimitri, you don't have to talk about it… I'm so sorry."

"It's fine."

"My dad taught me how to spar." She frowned. "That's about it, actually…" I grinned at her. "Now," her face turned serious. "Explain what a roza is." she looked completely confused and obviously hadn't made the connection.

"Roza. It's your name. Rose. Roza. It's just another form of it."

"Oh. I like it. _Roza_. It sounds nice when you say it."

"O… Kay?"

"Because of your accent. Go on…"

"What?"

"Say it."

"Say it?"

"Say it. My name."

"Oh… Roza."

"Again."

"Roza."

"It sounds so nice." I blinked.

"So…"

"So…?"

"So what are you doing out here?"

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

"Same." I sighed.

"Oh."

"Yeah." I yawned.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

"Nah, I'm good." I told her, going to sit on the wooden loveseat near the edge of the roof. Rose joined me, pulling her legs up and resting her head on my shoulder. The noise from the street drifted up to us from below.

"I wonder is it this noisy every night."

"Probably. Well, when the Games are on, at least." I replied.

"So they're celebrating the Games down there?" she frowned.

"Most likely. Why the face?" I asked, though I already had a good idea…

"They celebrate kids being forced to kill each other… Can't they see how wrong that is?"

"I guess not." I said quietly, looking away from the city and back to Rose. She had tears in her eyes.

"If we don't make it out of this… Then, that's it. Life over. We never get to finish school, get married, have kids, live our _lives_… It's just so unfair." She sobbed. I took her in my arms, rocking her gently.

"I know, Roza, I know. But, see, that's why we have to win this. So we _can_ finish school, and we _can_ get married and have kids, and we _can_ live our lives. We need to show the Capitol that we can beat their Games. That they don't control us."

"Yeah." She yawned, her earlier passion subsiding.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

"No, I'm fine." She said, clutching my hoodie closer to her.

"You know, Dimitri, you're a really good friend."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." I chuckled.

"I know. Neither did I." she said quietly, hesitating for a second. "Dimitri?"

"Yes, Roza?"

"Just out of curiosity… What's your token?"

"It's in that pocket, if you want to see it." I yawned. She slipped her hand into the large pocket, pulling out the gold pin.

"It's a rose…"

"Yeah, I think my grandmother was trying to tell me about the whole districts teaming up thing."

"But how could she have known?"

"_That_, Roza, is a story for another day." She shrugged, fingering the lettering around the edge.

"What does it say?"

"'_Roses are your greatest ally' _in Russian."

"Oh."

We chatted quietly for a while longer, until Rose's voice trailed off and her breathing grew heavy. I stood up carefully, picking her up –bridal style– and trying not to jostle her. She stirred slightly in my arms as I descended the stairs. I padded soundlessly down the hallway, kicking the door open with my foot. After laying her gently in bed, I stood back to look at her. She was beautiful when she was asleep, her face soft and her long hair framing her face. Her tense expression had vanished, and she suddenly looked younger, more innocent.

After a few minutes, I decided to leave because it felt creepy watching her sleep. Just before I shut the door, I heard a noise from inside: a hoarse whisper. I widened the gap so that I could fit my head through.

"Dimitri…" my eyes watched the mound in the bed carefully, waiting for her to sit up. She didn't.

"Dimitri… no…" she whispered, pain etched on her face. "Dimitri!" she cried again, thrashing in the sheets.

"Comrade. _Comrade_! No… _No_! You can't do this to me… _Please_…" she whispered, her voice filled with so much pain; I winced.

"Rose. _Roza_! I'm here, I'm here…" I whispered hoarsely, lying down beside her. She calmed immediately, snuggling into my chest. I held her for a few more minutes before standing up slowly. She whimpered, her arms flailing, searching for me. I settled back down again, making myself comfortable. Rose began snoring lightly, and I smiled to myself before drifting off to sleep.

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><p><strong>Soo... You know what I would like some of...? For my hard work...? Reviews :D<strong>

**Oooh... and by the way, here's the link to my new story, A Life of Regrets... Check it out!**

.net/s/7195238/1/A_Life_of_Regrets

**ATA xx**


	4. Changing Tradition

**Hi guys!**

**Just a warning: this is a _really_ long chapter... 7,219 words, to be precise :D**

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><p>Chapter 4 – Changing Tradition<p>

Strong, familiar arms were around me when I woke up. I didn't know why he was in my bed, but I wasn't complaining. I felt safe with him there. I sat up gently, turning to face him. Dimitri was still asleep, his long hair splayed across the pillow, his face soft – almost childish. I stroked his hair gently, and gradually, he woke up. He blinked a few times before fixing his chocolate eyes on me.

"Morning sleeping beauty."

"Morning Roza."

"Wanna explain why you're in my bed?"

"Nightmares." He sighed.

"You had a nightmare?"

"No, you did, and you clearly don't remember it."

"Eh…" I thought for a second. "No… But how did you know it was a nightmare? When? What-"

"Last night, when we were on the roof, you fell asleep. I carried you-"

"You carried me?"

"Yes, I carried you back here, but when I put you in bed, you started whimpering-"

"Whimpering? Rose Hathaway does _not_ whimper."

"Anyway, you started whimpering, and then you were talking-"

"Talking? What was I saying?"

"Stop interrupting. You said my name-"

"How much? Was it a lot?" I asked, cringing mentally at the thought. Dimitri stared pointedly at me, eyebrow raised. "Oops… Sorry. Go on…"

"Well, how much is a lot in your book?"

"Wow… That much?" I grimaced.

"Yeah, it sounded like I was… Like I had just…"

"Oh…" I whispered.

"Yeah…" he sighed, quickly changing the subject. "You want breakfast?"

"Um… Sure." I replied, caught off guard. "Give me five minutes to get changed."

He stood up, untangling himself from my arms. "See you in a few." He called as he opened the door.

"Should I ask?" Adrian muttered, having just walking past the door.

"You just did." Dimitri replied.

"Well then, let me rephrase. Would you like tell me what you're doing coming out of Rose's room looking like you've just woken up… with no shirt on?"

"I think I preferred the first question." Dimitri muttered. If you must know-"

"I had a nightmare." I called. Adrian peered warily round Dimitri's arm at me.

"Oh. That makes more sense than-"

"Don't even say it, Ivashkov, or I will break your face." I threatened.

"Yeeah, I'd best be going to… get some breakfast. I'll see you guys later… hopefully much later."

"Bye Adrian." I called cheerfully. He grimaced, continuing to walk down the hallway.

"See you, Rose." Dimitri called over his shoulder, shutting the door quietly.

ONE WEEK LATER – THE SESSION WITH THE GAMEMAKERS

"Nervous?" Dimitri asked, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

"Kind of… We can totally do this though."

"What are you going to show them?"

"I-"

"Attention please! Everyone, attention! Because of recent changes to tradition – ie. The Quarter Quell – we have decided to change the layout of the trial. Each district will take one trial _together_. The content of the session has also changed. Instead of tributes showing the Gamemakers the skills they hone; we have set up a training exercise that will test all of your skills. District 1: please make your way to the gym." A steward drawled before escorting the tributes from 1 into the gym.

"Training exercise? What the hell kinda warning is that?" I cried.

"I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that by 'testing all our skills', they mean: 1. Teamwork, 2. Our fighting skills, 3. Resourcefulness 4. The way we work around each other, and 5. Our observation and perception."

"That's two." I pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. The concept stays the same." He replied.

The room gradually emptied until there was only the two of us left.

"These trials are taking a _really_ long time." Dimitri stated, watching the clock. We had been here almost three and a half hours.

"District 12." The steward droned from the doorway.

"About time!" I sighed, leading the way into the gym. We came to stand in the very centre.

"Your trial begins now. Good luck." One of the Gamemakers drawled over the speaker. He seemed bored out of his mind.

A loud siren began wailing, and not knowing what to expect of where to expect it, we took up the best position we could think of: back-to-back.

Every set of doors around the gym suddenly flew open to reveal an army of riot police clad all in black. We stood out in our matching red t-shirts, which we had been told to wear. It's not like there was much chance of me losing sight of Dimitri anyway, because of his superior height. He might have had to worry a bit more about me though. Standing 5'7 in the middle of a crowd of men that clear 6ft… Not good.

"Wait! Where are our weapons?" I called over my shoulder.

"What happened to good old hand-to-hand?"

"My fists _are_ my greatest asset…" I agreed.

"Well…" he sighed, eyes on the approaching army.

"Well, what?" I frowned.

"Um… Not now. Maybe some other time – now, game face on, and pay attention."

"Can do, _Guardian Belikov_." I grinned. I felt him chuckle against my back.

The army swarmed us from all sides, creating an impenetrable ring around us. I lashed out with my fist, hitting some guy square in the face. Blood spurted from his nose and he fell back, unconscious. _One down, one hundred strong to go_, I thought cheerfully.

I risked a quick look up at the Gamemakers. They were chatting amongst themselves, eating the huge banquet that had been set out for them. They were also paying us _no_ attention whatsoever.

"Hey!" I yelled. Nothing.

"_HEY_! _We're down here_!" Most of them looked down at me, startled at my insolent tone. _Just because we're from 12 doesn't mean we can't fight_, I thought to myself.

They started paying more attention after that.

I turned back to find a fist flying toward my face. Dodging it neatly, I caught the punch– with my left hand, no less – and threw it back at the attacker. Without missing a beat, my foot shot out, hitting the guy right in the crown jewels. He grunted, doubling over in pain. I lashed out with a mean uppercut, getting him in the chin. He collapsed, finally unconscious.

"Dimitri! They're all wearing helmets!" I yelled. Only a couple at the front had their heads exposed. I cursed, kicking some guy's knees out from under him.

"Doesn't matter. We'll have to find another way in." he called back, elbowing one in the gut. He then stole the guy's baton, and swung it in a wide arc, taking out about five men. We moved back-to-back again, concentrating only on the person in front of us, never thinking of the army as a whole. It seemed impossible that way.

We fought hard for about a half hour, always staying together. We moved in harmony, working together until the last man fell. I cast a smug glance up to the Gamemakers, who were looking on in shock. One slowly began clapping, and gradually, the rest joined in. I turned to Dimitri, not believing my eyes.

"Clapping. Nice touch." He grinned, taking my shock the wrong way.

"Is that it?" I cried incredulously. He shook his head sadly.

"Would you like more?" A Gamemaker drawled, trying to keep the awe off his face.

"Hell yeah! Bring it!" I yelled, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"_Rose_! Umm… Should we just leave?" Dimitri cut in.

"Yes… Through that door." He replied, gesturing to the door we had come in.

"Thank you." Dimitri told them sincerely, tugging me to the door. The second he closed it, the buzz of the Gamemakers talking excitedly wafted through. I shot Dimitri a wide grin.

"We. Kicked. Ass!" I yelled, hugging him tight.

"That we did." He agreed with a chuckle. Then he sighed. "I suppose we'd better go and break the news to Effie and Adrian."

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

"I don't think my ears can take any more screaming." He grumbled. I had to laugh at him.

"Not funny, Rose."

"Hilarious, Dimitri."

He started muttering to himself as we walked.

The dining room door opened before we were even half way down the hallway.

"Rose! Dimitri!" Effie cried. "Come in, come in!" we followed her in and sat down warily at the table. Dimitri readied himself to ram his hands over his ears for when the screaming started. I grinned.

"So, what did you two do for the session?"

"They changed it this year."

"_What_?" Effie cried, but recovered quickly. "What did you do for _that_ then?"

"It was a training exercise. An army of over a hundred men – complete with riot shields, batons and helmets – attacked us, and we had no weapons." Dimitri explained. Effie let out a loud gasp, shocked.

"And…?" she asked, peeking through her fingers at us. I looked to Dimitri, who nodded.

"And we aren't telling." I said at the same time Dimitri went, "We got-". I slapped my hand over his mouth, urging with my eyes.

"Yeah, you'll find out later." He grinned.

"Let's go before they torture it out of us." I whispered to Dimitri, pulling him up. We left the two dumbstruck vegetables behind us and walked out, stopping just outside our rooms.

"So…"

"So I forgot to say congratulations! You were amazing out there!" I grinned, throwing myself into his arms.

He chuckled into my hair. "You too, Roza, you too." He hugged me tight for a second longer before pulling back. A half-smile washed over his lips before he closed the door quietly.

NEXT DAY

"Ro-ose! Up, up, up! We have a big, big day today!" Effie chirped through my door at – I rolled over to check my clock – 7.30 am. Not cool. Not that she ever was. I groaned, rolling over further until my feet hit the floor with a soft thud. Padding stiffly to the door, I called Effie every name I could think of – mentally, of course.

I threw the door back, and it hit the wall with a loud crash.

"Rose? What happened?" Effie – actually sounding concerned for once – cried, shaking my shoulders, which, surprisingly, hurt a bit.

"What happened? I'll tell you what happened. I am dog tired because I haven't slept in a week, and this morning a really…" I hesitated, "…Loud woman with pink hair came in and woke me up before it was even acceptable to be properly asleep!" I growled.

"That's not what I meant."

"Well then, Effie dear, what _did_ you mean?" I asked sweetly – through gritted teeth.

"What happened to your face? …And your arms, for that matter?" I looked down, now noticing the purplish bruises blossoming on my arms. I crossed to the mirror, examining my face closely. I had a faint shadow under one eye, a small gash on the side of my forehead, and a long bruise down the left side of my jaw.

"Effie dearest, need I remind you that I fought off one hundred odd men yesterday?"

She frowned. "Oh yes. Well, this won't look very good for the interview!" she cried, skittering back out of the room. I dressed quickly in leggings and a hoodie before heading out after her.

I found her talking quietly to Adrian in the dining room, their heads close together. Dimitri was behind them, leaning casually against the wall. I walked over to join him, and saw that his face was in a similar state to mine: lips slightly swollen, with a faint black eye and a dark bruise running from his eyebrow to his jaw.

"Hey." He said quietly. "You're looking good."

"I _always_ look good, Comrade." I joked.

"I can't argue with that." He smiled.

"A-"

"I've got it!" Effie yelled.

"Got what?" I asked in a bored voice.

"Our schedule for today!" she cried, and then went on to prattle through it. I tuned out after she said 'breakfast now' – shows you how much I listened to. I did, however, notice when she stopped talking, and I took this as my cue to come out with a smartass answer.

"YAY!" I enthused, clapping. That should do. Dimitri and Adrian soon followed my lead, and Effie's smile gradually faded.

"Hpmh. Well then. You're all being very ungrateful today."

"Part of the job description, Effie." I told her, slapping her on the back as I walked out.

The day passed in a rush. Breakfast with Dimitri cheered me up–

"_If you had one chance, where would you go?" he asked me, his brown eyes shining. Panem was our world, but about a hundred years ago, there had been other places on the planet – before humans destroyed it, that is._

"_I'd like to go somewhere really warm, like Australia." I grinned._

"_I'd love to go to Russia. I've been told that I have Russian ancestors, and that's why I – and the rest of my family – have an accent."_

"_Yeah, I've noticed that before. I like it. It sounds nice." I told him, to which he beamed._

"_Who would you be?" he asked suddenly._

"_What?"_

"_In an ideal world, who would you be?"_

"_I'd just be me. Rose Hathaway is too awesome to not exist."_

"_I have to agree with you on that one." He grinned._

"_What do you think of her?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Rose." I said in my most sarcastic voice. "I think she's pretty badass."_

_He thought carefully for a second before answering. "I think she's smart, funny, sweet, fierce and the most be– and very protective of those she loves." He finished quickly._

"_What was that?" I asked with a soft smile, trying to raise one eyebrow. Failure._

"_I don't remember…" he said evasively, blushing a delicate pink. It was adorable._

"_It began with a 'b'. The most be… bea… beau…" I guessed, knowing I was right when he turned his face away from me. I gasped. Did he think I was beautiful?_

"_What?" he sighed._

"_Er… nothing. Do you want to know what I think of Dimitri Belikov?"_

"_Sure." He mumbled, relieved._

"_I think he's adorable when he's blushing." This made him blush even deeper. "I think that he's sweet, caring, funny, fierce, protective, thoughtful… and very handsome." I giggled, waggling my eyebrows. He chuckled again._

"_Why thank you, Roza. I do try." He grinned. I elbowed him playfully in the stomach._

"_You're a real charmer, you know that?"_

_End flashback_

…Where as my practice session with Effie brought me down… to the extreme–

"_Rose! Back straight, chin up, hands by your sides. Now walk. No no, not like that! You're shaking your hips too much! Yes, okay, now sit. No! Legs crossed, hands in your lap, head high!"_

"_Just can it Effie! I have a headache now!" I yelled._

"_Rose! Don't be so rude. I'm trying to teach you how to be a lady!"_

"_Yeah, a _lady._ In three days time, I'll be killing teenagers to save my own ass for your entertainment!" I screamed in disgust. Effie recoiled from my harsh words like I'd slapped her._

"_Now, Rose, you know that's not why the Games-"_

"_The hell I do! The Games have nothing to do with the Uprising! It's all to do with keeping you sons of bitches in the Capitol happy!_

"_That's-"_

"_Don't try to rewrite history Effie. It won't change anything." I growled, my voice dangerously low. I shot her one last look before storming out and slamming the door._

_End flashback_

And then there was my content session with Adrian, and which went _so_ much better… not…

"_So, Dimitri's going for fiercely protective and easy to like. What were you thinking for yourself?"_

"_Uhm…"_

"_Funny." He chuckled, scribbling it down._

"_Funny? Why?" I asked, confused. He paused for dramatic effect before answering._

"… _You're face just there was hilarious." He roared, wiping tears from his eyes._

"_You're such a bitch, Ivashkov."_

"_Proud to be, Hathaway." He grinned. I stuck my tongue out at him._

"…_Anyway… Funny-"_

"_Sexy!" I yelled suddenly, making it sound like 'sexaaay'. I shook my hips as if to illustrate the point._

"_And…" he mumbled to himself, running his fingers through his made-to-be-messy hair._

"_Hey! You think I could be mysterious?"_

"_Show me the face." He replied thoughtfully. I quickly affected a mysterious face. He stared hard at me for a minute._

"_Yes, you could most definitely be mysterious." He agreed, scribbling that down too._

"_So, we good? I'm hungry."_

"_Rose, you're always hungry. And no, we aren't 'good' just yet."_

"_I have to stay for the full four hours, don't I?" I groaned, sinking back into the sofa cushions._

"_Yep."_

"_No way!"_

"_Yes way. Now, pretend I'm Caesar Flickerman. I'm going to interview you. Pretend Dimitri's there too."_

"_Dimitri's gonna be there?" I asked incredulously._

"_You didn't know?" he replied, equally shocked._

"_Nooo… Tell me tell me tell me!"_

"_Well, you obviously know about the whole teaming up thing they're doing this year, right? The interviews are the same. Each district gets eight minutes each, just because it's a Quarter Quell."_

"_Jeez… Eight minutes. That's pretty precise." I said, giving out a low whistle._

"_I know. Screwed up, if you ask me. Now, anyway." He brightened up again. "Back to your interview."_

"_You sound like Effie." I grumbled, which he pointedly ignored._

"_Hello Rose, Dimitri. How are you tonight?"_

"_I'm good."_

"_Just good?" he asked through gritted teeth._

"_Yeah, just good."_

"_So, a seven in training. That's pretty impressive."_

"_Sure is." I replied casually, grinning inwardly at our unknown success._

"_Quit with the monosyllable answers!" Adrian growled._

"_I do believe 'sure is' is two syllables."_

"_Rose!"_

"_N. M. P." I said – just to piss him off even more._

"_What?"_

"_N. M. P. Not my problem."_

"_O… K?"_

"_That's an ab-" I frowned, forgetting the word. "Abree-" Hmm… "Abrevi- …um…"_

"_Abbreviation."_

"_Yeah! OK's an abbreviation too. It originated from the abbreviation of __orl korrekt__ , a joke spelling of 'all correct' that was used in like…" I wrinkled my nose. "Years ago…"_

_Why's it not A. C. then?"_

"_Uh… What?"_

"_Why O. K. instead of A. C.?" he sighed._

"_Do I look like a history book, Ivashkov?"_

_He pondered. "No, you just sound like one."_

"_B. F."_

"_What's that? Best friend? _Boy_friend?"_

"_Don't flatter yourself." I growled._

"_Well then, what about…"_

"_Bitchface. It's bitchface." _

"_Oh. T. M. S."_

"_That-?" I guessed._

"_Makes sense." He cut in._

"_Ahh… I. G. I. N." I replied. All these abbreviations were making my head hurt._

"…_Care to elaborate?"_

"_I get it now. I. G. I. N."_

"_Oh."_

"_Ye-up… C. W. S. N?" I asked._

_Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can we stop now?"_

"_That's what I just said." I replied, deadpan._

"_Oh."_

"_So, anyway, I think I just heard Effie calling me from… somewhere… bye!" I chimed, heading for the door. Adrian caught me by my hood and pulled me back._

"_You think I believe you?" he smirked._

"_I believe me. I believe that I'm a very believable person, and believable people should believe and be believed by-"_

"_Gah! Shut up already!" he yelled._

"_Teehee." I giggled._

"_Rose." He growled._

"_Yes Adrian?" I asked sweetly._

"_Stop it."_

"_No."_

"_Yes."_

"_No._

"_Yes."_

"No_." I growled, not even close to backing down._

"Yes!"_ he replied forcefully, stepping closer._

"_No." I closed the gap, my forehead touching his._

"_Yes."_

"_Noo."_

"_Ye-es."_

"_No-oo."_

_*ONE HOUR LATER*_

"_Yes Rose, now please… _go away_. Your four hours were up a half-hour ago." He sighed wearily._

"_Nope." I replied from my spot on the floor._

"Please_." Adrian begged, looking like he wanted to pull his hair out. Too bad, it would be a waste of nice hair._

_I huffed. "You go first."_

"_Fine!" he growled, jogging out. I followed him innocently… and hungrily. We entered the dining room to find Effie and Dimitri chatting cheerfully, half-way through their roast dinner. I could practically feel my mouth watering._

"_Well, somebody had a good practice." I taunted, flopping down beside Dimitri. He chuckled._

"_Yes, Dimitri has _very_ good manners, and he's _exceptional_ at following instructions." Effie praised._

"_I agree." Adrian said loudly, staring pointedly at me._

"_Why does everyone hate me?" I whined, pulling on a hurt expression._

"_I don't hate you." Dimitri chuckled._

"_Adrian grinned evilly. "That's because he l-"_

"Adrian!_" Dimitri interrupted, suddenly looking murderously angry… and embarrassed. It was times like this I wished I wasn't so dense when it came to social cues – I had obviously missed something important._

"_Sorry…" Adrian muttered, shrinking back into his chair in fear. I needed to get Dimitri to teach me how to do that… It was quite amusing._

"_Be more careful next time." He growled, standing abruptly and leaving the room._

_Wonder what that was about." I mused to no one in particular._

"_I'd say you'll find out soon enough." Adrian told me mysteriously._

"_Hmph. I hate being the last to know theses things."_

_End flashback_

And now here I was, sitting quietly behind the massive stage that had been set up in front of the training centre. Dimitri was sitting on my left and the boy tribute from 11 was sitting on my right. Caesar Flickerman's voice suddenly boomed around us.

"Let's welcome the tributes in this year's Quarter Quell!" That being our cue, we filed out obediently and took the seats set out for us to huge cheers. The noise was overwhelming, echoing through the still air – and effectively deafening us.

"So, let's get started. District 1, _where are you_?" Caesar sang. I didn't take to District 1 at all – not that I would… dirty, rotten careers – they seemed to be trying to come across 'menacing', and their training score reflected that: they got a ten. Massive cheers from the audience. I still had high hopes for us though. District's 2, 3 and 4 all seemed to be trying for the same 'we-don't-play-fair' attitude, and they earned two level 9s and an 8 for it.

The female from 5, Daniella, was sickeningly nice. It was torture to sit through. Her other half, Nathan, was the complete opposite, surly and impolite. They got a level 5: alright, but not great. District 6 made me catch my breath: so different, yet so the same. The girl looked like an angel, with poker-straight, platinum blonde hair falling past her shoulders and jade-green eyes. Her counterpart was the exact opposite, still an angel – but a fallen one, with messy black hair, icy blue eyes and a cheeky smile. He and I would've gotten along nicely – in a different situation. They got a level 7, which was pretty damn good for one of the poorer districts. _Just not as good as us_, I thought – maybe a tiny bit smugly.

District 7 didn't make much of an impression on me: the guy was cute, with a shock of red hair and clear blue eyes. The girl though, Meredith, was the most average person I've ever come across. Nothing really stood about her, not even her dress: black, falling straight to her feet with no frills or flourishes at all. Her partner seemed to notice this too: I caught him staring at me a lot. They earned a level 5.

District 8 were very professional, not giving away any of their plans or strategies. They got a level 5 for their efforts. District 9 was completely in awe of the Capitol, albeit scared for their lives. They got a level 1. Ouch.

I nearly burst out laughing when I saw the girl from District 10. She looked like a doll: short and baby-faced, with golden ringlets, bright blue eyes and the perfect pout. I thought she was twelve years old at most, but I was dutifully informed by Caesar that she was in fact sixteen. I let out a snicker when she began talking, which earned me a _very_ dirty look. Ooh, a _bitchy_ doll. _Fun_. Her other half looked really geared up for the Games, ready to take on the world. He'd probably have to do it alone, seeing as _she_ didn't look like she would last five minutes outdoors. I kind of felt sorry for the boy. Eddie, I thought he said his name was. It wasn't fair to him to have such a bad partner. They ended up with a level 4.

The two from District 11 were very ordinary. The girl had long red hair and blue eyes, and the boy had dark hair and dark eyes. They both seemed very quiet, and were obviously in awe of the city. They earned a level 3, which they seemed very pleased with.

And then it was us. Suddenly, I didn't want to talk any more. My hands shook as we took our seats on the small sofa opposite Caesar.

"Why hello there District 12! How are we tonight?"

"Tired." I yawned. "I haven't been sleeping well."

"Anxious about the Games?" he asked, feigning concern perfectly.

"No no. I've just been having… nightmares."

"Nightmares?" he gasped. I couldn't believe I was talking about my sleeping habits in front of the whole country.

"Yup. _Apparently_ I was talking about them in my sleep." I glanced pointedly at Dimitri. Caesar followed, raising his eyebrows. The whole of Panem was now looking at him, waiting for his explanation as to how he heard me talking in my sleep… 'cuz you'd have to be in the same bed for that, right?

Dimitri seemed to feel the pressure weighing down on him. "I heard her from my room, so I… let myself in, and – um – I tried to wake her up, and she was crying and yelling my name… and then she woke up." He said all in a rush. I saw the pain in his eyes as he thought back to that night and squeezed his hand gently.

"You two are very close, aren't you?" Caesar observed.

"Yes. We're… Well, yeah, we're really close." I told him.

"That's sweet." He smiled. "I suppose you're happy about the new rule then?"

"Very." I grinned.

"And that brings us onto the subject of your training score nicely. How do you think you did?"

"… Pretty good." I told him, shooting Dimitri a knowing smile.

"Quietly confident, eh?" Caesar asked, taking his first look at the cue card in front of him. Jumping up from his seat, he ran to the wings, gesturing wildly to whatever was written on it. The man he spoke to nodded, shoving him back onstage. Caesar sat back down casually, smoothing his emerald green hair back.

"I take back my earlier words. You had every right to be confident." He turned to the audience. "Ladies and gentleman, give it up for the first level 12 in Hunger Games History!" He hollered, flourishing to us. The crowd stood in stunned silence for a second longer before exploding into cheers. They went _ballistic_, and so did Dimitri and I. We jumped up from the chair, and I ran straight into the warm confines of his arms. His kissed my hair gently.

"We did it, Roza. We really did it." I looked up from his chest, trying to see his face through the blinding flashbulbs going off everywhere. My eyes eventually adjusted and my breath caught painfully in my chest. His whole face was radiant, warm brown eyes glowing with pride and happiness. He beamed down at me, a dazzling smile that showed all his teeth, and I couldn't help but return it with as much joy as could possibly be channelled into a smile.

Caesar eventually got us back to our seats by telling us that we had two minutes.

"Need I ask you whether you're pleased or not?" he asked, eyes glowing.

"Nah, you can move onto your next question." I grinned. Caesar thought for a moment.

"Dimitri, do you have a girl back home?" he asked, suddenly excited. I groaned inwardly.

"No…"

"Rose?"

"Eh…" _Truth. Lies. Truth. Lies. _"Nope…" Truth. I couldn't very well make someone up with the whole district watching.

"Ooooh…" the crowd cried suggestively. Dimitri blushed.

"What do we think? Would these two look good together?" Caesar asked the audience. I swear I nearly knocked his front teeth out.

"You two, stand up there together." I stood, leaning into Dimitri slightly. He wrapped his arm round my waist automatically. Caesar looked us both over.

"You're both so…"

"Hot?" I joked.

"Exactly."

Oh…" Now I looked like an asshole.

"And Rose, may I say that your dress is beautiful?"

"Yeah, Cinna's a miracle worker." I praised, meeting his eyes in the audience. He shot me a smile that said 'I will get you later.' I waved back innocently.

"He most certainly is." Caesar agreed. I looked down at my dress, eyes full of love. Blood red, long and flowing, it suited me perfectly. With thick halter straps, a low neckline and a slit to my mid-thigh, it sort of combined classic with sexy. It was very simple too, the only flourishes being the four thin belts crisscrossing around my waist. I loved it just as much as I had my first dress. Dimitri was wearing another smart black suit with a blood red tie and I had to admit, we did look pretty nice together. Just not boyfriend-girlfriend nice.

We all took our seats again quickly, and Caesar launched back into his last few questions.

"So, what do you like most about the Capitol so far?"

"My bed." I sighed happily. That got a few laughs.

"Dimitri?"

"The company." He replied, shooting me a crooked smile. The crowd gave out a massive 'aww'. Dimitri's blush deepened as he stared at his shiny black dress shoes.

"Are you sure you don't have your eyes on any of the ladies?"

"Positive."

"I don't believe you! Who's the lucky girl?"

"No one!"

"What does she look like?" Caesar pressed. I closed my eyes, waiting for Dimitri to snap. He didn't. He just sighed.

"She has-" The claxon sounded, signalling that our time was up. The crowd launched into an argument, but Caesar silenced them with a raised hand.

"I'm sorry District 12, but your time is up. Maybe the identity of Dimitri's crush will become apparent in the Arena, hmm?" Caesar asked, staring pointedly at me. I shot back with a look that said '_Why are you staring at me like you know something I don't?'_

"Maybe…" Dimitri mumbled, turning round to go and sit down again. Caesar caught my eye just before I followed him.

"_It's you!_" he mouthed silently, pointing at me. I felt my jaw drop. Yeah right.

Dimitri turned again, tugging my hand. I let him pull me back to our seats as Caesar signed off.

We were eventually horded off the stage, back into the care of out escorts and mentors. Effie and Adrian looked like proud parents when we reached them, albeit slightly dysfunctional ones.

"YOU GOT A 12!" Effie screamed, launching herself into Dimitri's arms. Adrian mussed my hair.

"I'm proud of you Hathaway. You did good."

"I didn't screw up too bad then, Mr _OK_?"

He grinned. "Rose, you didn't screw up at all! In as long as I've watched the Games, I have never, _ever_ seen the crowd react that way to one of the Districts. Ever. It was amazing. And it totally helped that you scored the first 12 in the Games' _history_!" he laughed.

"Yeah, it was awesome." I yawned, rubbing my eyes. "Can I sleep now?"

"Yeah, I think we probably should seeing as-"

I turned to Dimitri in horror. "The day after the day after tomorrow-"

"We'll be in the Arena." We finished together, somewhat eerily. The thought frightened me.

"Let's go." Adriana mumbled quietly, sensing the tension around him. We followed him in silence, the only sound our rhythmic footfalls echoing down the hallway. The quiet lasted as we waited for the elevator. Stepping inside, I decided to break the ice.

"My dress really is quite nice, isn't it?" I asked, admiring my reflection in one of the mirrored walls.

"Now, that's offensive." Dimitri chastised. "It's not merely 'quite nice'."

"Well then Mr Belikov, what is it?"

He thought for a second. "Amazing."

"Aww… Thanks Comrade. That's so sweet." I grinned. My smile was marred slightly when I recalled Caesar's words: '_it's you!_' Was it me? Dimitri was my brother… not my secret admirer. I mean, he was really sweet, kind, funny and so many other things, and _damn_ was he good looking, but I couldn't see him like that…

"S.S." Adrian piped up suddenly as we stepped into our hallway.

"_What_?"

"Your dress. It's S.S."

"I thought we agreed that we wouldn't do this any more Adrian." I chided. "Anyway, what's S.S.?"

"S-"

"I know! It's scorchingly sexy, isn't it?" I cried wearily, opening my door.

"Noo, it's…"

"Night Adrian." I said dreamily, shutting my door with a soft thud.

TWO DAYS LATER (THE DAY BEFORE THE GAMES)

I rocked myself gently as I watched what could be my last sunset. _Back, forth, back, forth_. It was calming me down. The Games began tomorrow, and I didn't feel ready in the least. But then again, the Games weren't an exam. You couldn't revise and hope for the best. Sure, you could train physically, but mentally, you're either level-headed under pressure, or, well… you're not. And if you're not, well then there's a good chance that you're also dead.

Dimitri was beside me, his eyes set on the sun falling over the horizon. The wind played in his hair, causing strands to come loose from the ponytail holder at the nape of his neck. His normally tan skin had paled in the evening light, leaving him chalky white with the slightest pink tinge. He looked up to me watching him – which also caused him to look directly at the sun – and just for one second, his eyes glowed red. It was gone as soon as it came, but for that one short moment – despite the warm, caring look on his angel's face – Dimitri had looked like something different, other. Not monstrous exactly, but close to it. A shiver ran down my spine as I pondered that.

"What's wrong?" Dimitri asked, concern buried deep in his eyes.

"Nothing." I sighed. "How are you feeling for tomorrow?"

"I- I-" he let out I sigh of his own. "I really don't know. One minute, I'm set for anything, the next; I just want to crawl into my bed and never leave. Sometimes I think we'll come back alive, other times I think we'll be the first to go. I just don't know Roza."

"I never thought I'd say this…" I looked down to where my hands were playing with the hem of my shorts. "I'm terrified Dimitri."

He chuckled.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"You can sum up in three words what it takes me a whole speech to get out." I laughed.

"You're right." I realised. "Another of my many awesome talents."

"But of course." He agreed.

I yawned, snuggling into his chest to hide from the cool breeze. He responded automatically, tightening his warm hold on me.

I fell asleep soon after, wrapped in his arms.

_The images from earlier haunted my dreams. _

_I 'woke up', realising quickly that I was in a world that had been conjured up by my own mind._

_I was in a cave, that much was obvious. I looked around me at the craggy walls and low ceilings. I was standing with a group of about five other people, who were all staring at something further down the tunnel. I joined them, squinting into the distance. I wasn't entirely sure what I was searching for until I saw them. A group of four or five people, my mother and Dimitri among them. There was something different about him, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. That was something to think about later._

_Their party came tearing toward us, like they were running for their lives, which – judging by their expressions – they were. They were so close now. Everyone around me tensed up. So, so close._

_But not close enough. Three men jumped out from an alcove, with chalky skin and fangs. I just knew that if I looked into their eyes, they would be red. Judging by the dismayed looks on everyone's faces – and the unexplainable nausea churning in my stomach, they were bad news. I watched in horrified silence as one of the pale men grabbed a womqn – thankfully not my mother – and ripped a chunk out of her cheek. She let out a strangled scream before collapsing in a pool of her own blood. Another of the pale ones jumped for a tall, pretty woman who reminded me of the girl from District 6: tall and graceful, with pale blonde hair and a gentle face. My mother jumped in, shoving the blonde in away from the monster of a man._

_The third and final man went for Dimitri. The minute I saw him – the one with the blonde hair and smug expression – I was filled with a hatred so strong, so vivid, I felt like I could walk right up to him and kill him with my bare hands. Something told me that wasn't a good idea though._

_In the short time I'd known him; I'd never seen Dimitri falter. He was always alert; he always seemed to know when someone was creeping up on him. He was always the fastest, the strongest. Not this time. The blonde had taken him by surprise, and the slight edge was all he needed._

_He grabbed Dimitri and pulled him to the ground. I wanted to cry out, scream at the top of my lungs, but I couldn't move… Couldn't speak. The two men grappled, strength on strength, and then finally, the fangs sunk into Dimitri's neck, the red eyes flicking up to meet my own._

_And then, suddenly, there was another piercing scream echoing around the cave, even more agonized than that of the dead woman – this time, it was my own._

_The last thing I saw was my mother, trying to decide whether to double back toward the fallen or not. I let out one last plea before I blacked out._

"Dimitri!"

_Abruptly_,_ I was awake again. Except this time, I was on an abandoned street… at night. 'When will this nightmare _end_?' I thought in horror._

_A streetlight blinked on and off on my right, and something drew me toward it. I didn't know what it was, but instinct seemed safe enough to trust right now._

_A figure suddenly stepped into the dim pool of light. A figure that cleared six and a half foot with shoulder length hair._

"_Dimitri…?" It felt like I hadn't seen him in years, and his capture still rang fresh in my mind. I stepped forward, ready to throw myself into his arms. But no, this Dimitri was different…_

_This was the true nightmare._

_I backed up, my eyes never leaving the cold red-ringed ones staring back at me. The chalky skin, the red eyes, the cold expression… Dimitri was one of _them.

_He took a step toward me, smirking cruelly._

"_You forgot my first lesson Roza. Don't hesitate." That hit me hard. Dimitri _had_ told me that, except it had been his lesson number two._

_I just barely saw his fist striking out at my head… and then I saw nothing at all._

_I let out one last painful scream before my eyes opened._

I woke up in a cold sweat, and gasping for air. I sat up just as the door cracked open.

"Rose?" A deep voice thick with sleep called. That same voice wrapped around me like a blanket, calming me instantly.

"Dimitri?" I squeaked hoarsely, tears silently tracking down my cheeks.

"Roza, what happened?" he flicked on the light, gasping when he saw me.

"I- I- I-" I took I deep breath, "I had another nightmare."

"About me." he finished grimly.

"Yes. About you. Was I yelling again? I'm so sorry if I woke you." I murmured.

"No. You didn't wake me. We're meant to get up soon anyway. See?" he told me, holding up my alarm clock. The neon green numbers swam into focus, telling me that it was 6am. He set it back carefully before joining me on the bed. I noted that he was only wearing sweatpants – just like last time.

"Rose. Tell me what happened. _Please_." He begged, tears forming in his tired eyes.

"Why are you crying?" I asked quietly, reaching up to wipe the tears away.

"Why am I _crying_? I'll tell you why. I have never heard such an agonized, _pain-filled_ scream in all my life. Much less because of _me_." he whispered, voice cracking. I buried myself into his arms, not wanting to leave.

After ten minutes, I decided it was necessary.

"We'd better get up." I sighed, pulling out of his arms and standing up. He grimaced, to which I raised my eyebrows – both, of course.

"Happy Hunger Games." He said grimly.

"And may the odds be _ever_ in your favour." I replied, imitating Effie's high pitched Capitol accent. I giggled for a second before stopping short.

"Wow. It really is today, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid it is."

I remained silent.

"Well, let's go find someone who'll set the wheels in motion." Dimitri suggested quietly. I nodded, turning to leave the room. He pulled me back by the hand he was still holding.

"Was it bad?" he whispered.

"The nightmare?" Dimitri nodded slightly.

"Yeah. The worst yet." I tacked on a silent _'…by far,'_ in my head.

"What-?"

"Some other time, Comrade."

"Okay…"

We made our way to the dining room in silence, still grasping the other's hand like a lifeline.

Adrian and Effie were waiting for us.

"Uhm… Good morning." Adrian mumbled grimly, not looking up from his coffee. We nodded tensely in unison. Effie attempted a small smile, but it seemed to take all her strength just to keep it there.

"So when do we leave?" I asked.

"There's been a delay, so not for another hour or so…" Adrian replied, checking the clock hanging beside the window.

"How about we watch the last Quarter Quell's best bits?" Effie asked, excitement seeping into her voice.

"Um… Sure Effie. Why not?" Dimitri mumbled.

Effie called in an 'Avox' – don't ask me what that means – and within ten minutes, we were sitting down to the Games from twenty five years ago.

I didn't know any of them. Well, not until the girl from 12 –a surprisingly resourceful thirteen year old named Holly– yelled out her ally's name. The boy tribute from her district.

"_Abraham_!" she yelled into the forest.

"Wait!" I shouted, hitting the pause button. "How is that spelled?" I asked Effie, who had a printout of all the tributes.

She traced her finger down to 12, following it across to his name.

"I-"

"I- B- R- A- H- I- M, right?" I cut in, dreading her next words.

Effie checked meticulously. "Yes. That's it."

I only knew one man who spelt his name that way.

"His last name wouldn't be… Mazur, would it?" I asked nervously.

"Er… Yes… Rose? How did you-"

"Ibrahim Mazur is my father."

* * *

><p><strong>Now remember, <strong>

_**Reviews = Happy Annie**_

_**Happy Annie = writing more**_

_**Writing more = finished quicker**_

_**Finished quicker = FASTER UPDATE!**_

**Now that is some quality Rose-logic!**


	5. Unexpected Visitors

**Hey!**

**New chapter: The Games (Day 1)! Who's excited? We're finally in the Arena! YAY!**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING: Azreael, Vampire academyy, MsRoseBelikov1, Sarah Odair and KarlaMarieIvashkov! You guys mean the WORLD to me :D**

**Though all your reviews were great, I want to dedicate this chapter to SirenTheSpazz and kittenxxkisses for their absolutely AMAZING reviews! You guys are SENSATIONAL!**

**Anyway, this chapter isnt mindblowingly epic or anything, nothing all that interesting happens, but it was necessary :)**

**It was sort of a base for the _next_ chapter, which shall be _way_ better :D**

**The next few chapters will give you a few more clues to my TAP (totally awesome plan!) for how the Games will pan out...**

**Let's just say that they might end with a bang this year...**

**Annie x**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5 – The Games (Day 1)<p>

"Ibhrahim Mazur is my father."

The name clicked instantly. I knew it sounded familiar.

"My old man was… in the _Games_?" Rose whispered, slumping back into the sofa.

"Apparently so." Effie told her, looking as surprised as I felt.

"But he won. How did he win? They had no weapons that year, right?"

"He outsmarted them." I realised.

"Abe _what_?"

"He outsm-"

"Yeah, I know. I heard you the first time."

"But-"

"Rhetorical question."

"Oh."

"Oh as right! I should have guessed! Should have figured it out…"

I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"The Games are nothing like they seem on TV."

"_What_?"

"That's what he told me on Reaping Day… He was trying to warn me!" she cried.

"Can I ask a question?" Adrian piped up. Rose turned her gaze on him expectantly.

"How did the Capitol not find out that you were his daughter? You know how much they love those things… Tributes born from victors and all that."

Effie flipped through some more pages before answering. "According to these pages, Ibrahim Mazur is dead."

"I'm sorry… _What_? Are you trying to tell me that my father faked his own _death_ after the Games?"

"I'm just relaying what's on the sheet."

"Rose, don't you see? He was trying to keep you safe!" Adrian stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"_What_? How?"

"Your mom and dad are married, right?"

"Sure they are."

"Didn't you ever notice how you and your mom kept the name 'Hathaway'?"

"People do that all the time!"

"Just take my word for it, Rose. He was protecting you and your mother." He sighed.

"Not to break up the conversation, but it's 7.30."

"And…?"

"We need to go!"

The flight on the hovercraft was long, boring… and incredibly nerve-wracking. No-one spoke, amplifying the close tension filling the air. I felt ready to choke on it. Portia sat beside me, with Rose directly opposite me and Cinna beside her. We had been forced to leave Effie and Adrian back at the Training Centre. Those goodbyes had been hard. Adrian had been awkward and gruff, and Effie had been _very_ loud and _very_ tearful. I almost felt bad for them, having to send kids to their death every year. More so for Adrian, he didn't volunteer for this.

But then, neither did we.

"We're here." Portia whispered, breaking the heavy silence. I shot Rose a grim smile, which she mirrored.

"You ready for this, Guardian Belikov?"

"Sure am, _Guardian Hathaway._"

"Ooh, I like that one. Nice ring." She grinned.

"What about Roza?"

"Well, it's my favourite, obviously." She grinned, though it didn't reach her eyes. I turned serious.

"Rose." She looked away. "Rose! Look at me." she lifted her head slowly.

"In the Arena, _run_. Just run like your life depends on it – which it does. I'll find you somewhere. You have to get away from the cornucopia as quickly as possible. I can't have you getting hurt…" I said quietly, pain etched in my voice. Rose looked heartbroken.

"Why can't I come to the cornucopia with you? We fight better together-"

"But if you get hurt-"

"But I won't-"

"But there's still a chance-"

"I _won't_ get hurt-"

"How could you possibly know-"

"How could _you_-?"

"Just let me finish-"

"_You_ let _me_-"

"Rose, just-" I sighed.

"What about you?"

I stopped short. "What about me?"

"How come you're allowed to fight? You think I won't be worried about you? Well, I will be. _Sick_ with worry. I would _die_ if anything happened to you, and I could do nothing to stop it-" she began sobbing, so hard that she couldn't say any more. I moved to sit beside her, smoothing her hair back.

"Shh…" my heart broke for her.

"B- b- but…"

"Okay, new plan. Go to the cornucopia, grab anything – _anything_ – and run like Hell. I'll find you."

"Agreed." She said quietly, wiping her tears.

We were soon guided off the hovercraft and into the sterile basement area underneath the Arena. Cinna and Rose were pointed off to the right, and Portia and I were pointed to the left. It was time to say goodbye – or 'see you later', I guess – to Rose.

"I'll see you in a while, 'k?" I mumbled into her hair. Tears sprang in my eyes as I watched her, memorising every line, every feature. The beautiful dark brown eyes that could be so fierce yet so passionate, the long wavy hair that could easily be mistaken as black, the straight nose, the full, perfect lips that looked so soft, so kissable-

I chuckled inwardly, partly because of my train of thought, and partly because of the look on Roza's face. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was-

RPOV

Memorising him. That was my mission right now. To memorise every feature in case one – or both – of us didn't make it back to District 12.

My eyes slid over the shoulder-length hair that never stayed in its ponytail holder, the intelligent chocolate-coloured eyes that could be filled with so much love, yet so much hate, the straight nose and high cheekbones, the full lips, and the tense muscles that never seemed to completely relax.

Dimitri.

My heart was breaking as I looked his six-foot-seven frame up and down. If he didn't make it back…

CINNA POV 

I watched in stunned silence as Rose and Dimitri spent their final private – kind of – moments together. They just stood together in the hallway, staring into each others eyes, not talking. The gesture seemed so private; I felt the need to avert my eyes.

When the tributes were picked, I had received a brief on Rose, Dimitri, and their history. It had specifically stated that they were sworn enemies – and had been since they were kids – due to an incident that neither of them liked to talk about. To see them now, whispering quietly, heads close together, it astounded me to see how close they had become – from archenemies to best friends.

I hated to break up the moment, but we needed to go.

"Rose." I said quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder. She whispered something into Dimitri's ear before reluctantly pulling out of his arms. Without another word, she turned and headed toward her prep room – number 9.

I helped her dress mechanically in the dark green trousers, pale green shirt and black thermal jacket that was required for all tributes. She stepped into the soft hunting boots provided and slipped her token over her head: a silver chain with a stake dangling from it. Her favourite weapon. Rose stood carefully, getting her feel for the boots. A slow grin spread across her face.

"I really like these."

"They were custom made for the terrain." I answered.

"Oh." She said quietly. The reality of her predicament was finally setting in. I decided to change the subject.

"Um… Rose? Can I tell you something… as a friend?"

"Sure."

"I think… I think Caesar was right. Dimitri… likes you."

"I know he likes me." she frowned.

"I mean '_like', _not 'like', Rose."

"Oh…" she breathed. "But that's not a good thing."

"Why not?" I gasped.

RPOV

"He's just a friend… best friend." I corrected.

"I-" Cinna began, stopping when a man stuck his head round the door.

"District 12?" I nodded. "Lift-off in thirty seconds, then wait sixty more seconds before moving off the plate, got it?"

"Got it." The man gave a small nod before leaving. Cinna took me in his arms without hesitation, hugging me for what could be the last time.

"Good luck." He whispered as I stepped onto my shiny metal plate.

"I'll need it." I replied grimly, grasping Cinna's hand. He began to hum softly.

"One more thing." He said abruptly. I raised my eyebrows as a heavy, clear plastic cylinder began to close up around me. "Give Dimitri a chance. He's a really great guy. One of the best." He murmured, letting go of my hand.

I began to rise upwards slowly. "I am ready for this. Hell, I was _born_ ready." I assured myself as the plate stopped moving, and I found myself in the middle of the 75th annual Hunger Games.

DPOV

The plate slid to a smooth stop, and the countdown started. Sixty seconds to take in the Arena, the tributes, and – maybe most importantly – the cornucopia. I glanced quickly around the circle of tributes. To my left, I had the girl from District 9 – the tribute who got a level 1 in her training session – and to my right, I had the boy from 6 – the one with black hair and striking blue eyes. Rose was off to my right, eleven people away. Our eyes met, and the plan flashed in my mind. Grab anything and run.

The cornucopia gleamed gold in the bright sunlight, drawing my attention. I spied all sorts of things in and around it: tents, back packs – presumably full of food – a bow and arrows, clubs, swords and right in the middle, two glistening silver stakes tied with string. Those were _ours_. I scanned back along the ridge that connected me to the cornucopia. Supplies were dotted along the path, with the least valuable – a plastic sheet, in my case – closest to me, and the most valuable – two thermal sleeping bags – closest to the cornucopia.

After scoping out the starting circle, I finally took in my surroundings. To my right – behind Rose – was dense forest. To my left: sparse, dry wasteland. Directly in front of me was also woodland, and behind me lay a meadow of sorts, with lush green grass and a glittering pool of spring water. Although that looked to be the most inviting way to go, I decided against such an open space. In a game like this, hiding was essential. Hiding in places like that forest behind Rose…

The claxon sounded, signifying that our sixty seconds was up. I took off like a bullet from a gun, swooping to collect the plastic sheet, a bottle of water and the thermal sleeping bags. Due to my long legs, I was the first person to the cornucopia, and I took advantage of that.

One minute later, and I had the two stakes, two packs – one big, one small – and a first-aid kit.

I took off again like hellfire, running full-tilt for the forest. Someone jumped in front of me as I stepped off the ridge. The boy from District 5 – Nathan. Not stopping to hesitate, I unsheathed my stake from my trouser waistband. He lashed out with a knife of some sort, aiming for my heart. I dodged easily. Without missing a beat, my hand snaked up, stabbing Nathan in the chest. He gurgled before collapsing on the ground, dead.

I jumped over him, continuing on my route to the forest. Just before I hit the fringe, I turned to look for Rose. She was just leaving the cornucopia behind her with one backpack, an empty water bottle and the bow and arrows over her shoulder.

"Dimitri!" she yelled, sprinting to reach me, her bags bouncing to her gait.

"Hey Roza." I laughed as she barrelled into me.

"Where are we going to go?"

"Away. That's all I've got for now."

"Okay. I can do-"

"_Duck_!" I yelled, pulling Rose's arm. She reacted immediately and fell to her knees. A knife whizzed by – exactly where her head had been – and hit the tree behind us.

"That was too close." I muttered, pulling Rose back up. Standing by the side of the cornucopia was the girl from District 1, an evil grin plastered on her face.

"_Bitch_!" Rose screamed. The tribute bridled, taking a few steps forward. She looked like she was going to come after us.

"We have to go. Now!" I yelled, dragging Rose behind me.

"No way! I wanna kill that toxic son of a bitch!" she yelled, pulling me back.

"Rose. We have to get out of here. Now run." I murmured, my eyes never leaving hers. Nodding, she took a deep breath and set into a sprint. I was quick to join her.

We ran until the sounds of fighting died away, stopping cautiously when the forest fell silent.

"I think we should keep going." I said quietly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

"I just want to check something…" Rose muttered, grabbing the lowest branch of a near-by tree.

"You aren't going to climb that, are you?" I asked.

Who was I kidding? Of course she was.

"Be careful!" I called up into the thick canopy. She gave me a quick thumbs up before climbing higher and looking out over the Arena.

"There's a big hill up ahead!" she yelled.

"How long will it take to get there?"

"The rest of the day, probably." She called in response. It sounded like the perfect hiding place. "They're still fighting at the cornucopia."

That didn't really surprise me. "And…?"

"And the careers are right behind us! Start running!" she yelled, jumping out of the tree. I launched her pack at her, glancing around for anything we might have left behind. Nothing. Rose threw the pack over her shoulder, and after shooting me a look, she was off. I followed close behind her, trying not to make any noise.

"How close were they?" I whispered.

She snorted. "Not close enough to hear us."

"Oh." I said at normal volume, embarrassed. "We should… um, keep moving."

"That we should, Comrade, that we should." A mischievous smile suddenly lit up her perfect face. "Race you?"

"It's on."

"Three… Two… One… GO!" She cried, taking off full tilt.

By the time the sun was setting, we were exhausted from walking, sprinting and everything in between. The hill that Rose had spied from further back was fast coming into view; it looked like a mini-mountain, with tufts of grass dotted along its surface and a craggy drop falling down one side. I was intensely relieved to find it. Being out after dark in a place like this was not advised.

As we drew closer, I spotted a small opening between two rocks about halfway up the hill. I scaled the cliff face quickly and pulled myself up onto the ledge.

"What is it?" Rose asked, climbing up beside me. I grunted as I shoved the biggest rock aside.

"A cave." I laughed, not believing our luck. It was a decent size and completely invisible unless you were looking for it.

The perfect hiding place.

"Not too bad." Rose grinned, dropping her bags in the middle of the rough stone floor. I began to drag the boulder back into place. We were above the tree line, which gave us a good advanced warning if someone was coming. I looked out over the Arena, searching for something other than forest. I could faintly see a tiny gold speck glimmering in the distance: the cornucopia. It astounded me that we had come so far in a day. Something else caught my eye as I searched: a small stream about five kilometres away, in a small clearing. That could be very useful. I gave the boulder a final push, and it fell back into place, eliminating most of the light.

I turned back to Rose, who was sitting up against the wall. She grinned and gestured to our supplies. With a nod I picked up the first pack, and we began opening them one-by-one, like kids opening Christmas presents.

I opened the smallest back pack first. It was bright orange and pretty heavy, considering its size. Pulling the zipper back slowly, I took a peek inside. Weapons.

"Knives, nun chucks, a retractable spear and some sort of flash grenade." I stated slowly, pulling each item out.

"Awesome!" Rose cried, picking up a different pack. Hers was about twice the size of mine, and black in colour.

"What the hell is this?" she questioned, peering down into the depths of the bag. I shuffled closer to take a look.

"What… _is_ all that?" I asked incredulously. This particular backpack held the most random collection of items I've ever seen. Rose began pulling the contents out slowly, spreading it out on the floor.

"Wire, iodine, a piece of tubing, a mouse trap, two pairs of sunglasses, a flashlight and… What are these?" Rose asked, holding up a small box. I took it carefully, opened the flap and pulled out the contents: pea size bundles of black powder wrapped in paper. I ripped one open, bringing it up to my nose.

"Gunpowder." I whispered. Taking another one, I raised my arm and threw it against the cave wall.

"Dimitri, what are you-?"

It made contact with a sharp crack, sending tiny sparks flying.

"What are they for?"

"Decoy?"

She shrugged. "It's a possibility."

I nodded, reaching for the last pack. It was the largest of the three and the same colour green as our trousers. A look inside told me that it was full of food.

"It's got foo-" I began.

"_FOOD_!" Rose yelled, crawling closer to see for herself.

"Not so loud next time." I chuckled.

"Yes Comrade, sorry Comrade, three bags full Comrade." She sang, her eyes not leaving the food.

I sighed in disbelief, dragging the bag back.

"Crackers, bread, grain, meat, and some fruit." I told her, zipping it closed and leaning back against the wall.

"I think we did pretty good."

"Yeah, me too."

"But now I'm bored." She grumbled. I stared at her in disbelief.

"Would you rather be out there saving your own _life_?"

"Well, no… but that doesn't take away from the fact that there's nothing to do."

As if to prove Rose wrong, a twig snapped outside. I jumped up quicker than you can say 'intruder', sneaking quietly to the mouth of the cave. Rose followed, peering over my shoulder.

A muffled conversation drifted up from below.

"_This looks like a good place to set up camp." A male voice called._

"_I don't know. I have a bad feeling about it…" A female voice replied._

"_That's just you being overcautious."_

"_I'm being serious." She huffed._

I turned to Rose, holding a finger to my lips. She nodded, gesturing to her stake. With a thumbs up, I began to inch the boulder back slowly.

"_What was that?" the girl asked._

"_It was nothing. Stop being so paranoid."_

"_No, really. Listen."_

I stopped moving the rock.

"_See? Nothing. Now, come _on."

After a couple more shoves, the gap was wide enough for us to squeeze through. We climbed down the cliff face silently and landed on the ground with a soft thud.

"What now?" Rose asked in a whisper. I beckoned her forward with two fingers, pointing to the small clearing beyond – the location of the other tributes.

We crept around to the other side stealthily and peered through the trees.

With another hand gesture, Rose and I stole toward them as one, stakes raised.

She grabbed the girl, holding the stake to her throat, while I grabbed the boy and did the same thing.

"Who's behind me?" the boy gulped.

"Dimitri Belikov, District 12." I answered, pressing the stake harder against his neck.

"So Rose is behind me then?" the girl gasped.

"How do you know my name?" Rose asked, almost curiously.

"How could I _not_ know your name? _Either_ of you: you stole the show on the opening ceremony; got the first level 12 in the history of the Games, and now you have this whole love story going on too." She answered as though Rose had asked a stupid question. Her casual reference of our 'love story' hit me hard. Thanks to Caesar, the whole of Panem now knew that I was head-over-heels in love with Rose.

Nice one.

"Listen, we aren't going to put up a fight against you… I was kind of hoping that we would run into you guys anyway." The boy added.

"Why?"

"We want to ally with you." He said bluntly.

I raised my eyebrows at Rose over his head. She gave a discreet nod.

"Are you sure?" I asked aloud.

She nodded again.

I removed my stake from the boy's neck and spun him round to face me.

"And you are?"

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><p><strong>Soo... I have a few questions :D as always..<strong>

**1. Who do you think the intruders were?**

**2. What do you think the 'bang' at the end will be?**

**3. What has been your favourite part of the story so far?**

**Answer in a REVIEW :D**

**Annie x**


	6. Ally

**Heeeellloooo :D**

**Sorry for the late update, I was at a sports camp all week and I only got back yesterday :)**

**MASSIVE thank you to: Sarah Odair, Azreael, kittenxxkisses, MsRoseBelikov1, SirenTheSpazz, chasing down a daydream, Bookworm469, RandomnessQueen1, ChristalSharbutt, BadassSyd and ZippyGal, who REVIEWED... YAY! XD**

**By the way, I was reading a Hunger Games fic the other day (The Odds are Never in Your Favor by Sarah Odair - check it out, It's awesome!) and i realised just how far off this was from the books :( oooops! I wrote most of this when I was at the gaeltacht, and me being me, I was too lazy to change it all... I apollogise D:**

**Anyways... On with the chapter... where we have two _more_ visitors!**

**Annie x**

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><p>Chapter 6 – Ally<p>

RPOV

"Christian Ozera. And she's Vasilisa Dragomir." He declared with a chuckle.

She sighed. "Lissa. My name is _Lissa_… for the last time!"

"Hey Lissa. Wait… Dragomir… Are you the former Mayor's daughter?" I smiled, holding out my hand. She shook it, beaming the whole time. I had a good feeling about these two. They would be good allies.

"Yes… He's my father."

"I'm sorry." Mayor Dragomir – along with his wife and son – had been killed a few years ago in some freak accident. That was all I knew.

"It's fine, don't worry." She smiled. I nodded before turning to the other tribute.

"Hey Christian." I greeted confidently, not bothering with a handshake.

"Hello Rosie." He grinned cockily.

"Call me Rosie one more time and I'll break your face."

"Just a small admission," Dimitri piped up, standing between us. "She's most likely being serious… Carry on."

"I don't doubt you." Christian smirked, blue eyes shining.

I shook my head. "Come on asshole, I'll show you where we set up camp."

He pouted but followed me anyway.

Both his and Lissa's mouths fell open when they took in the cave.

"Only you two could find the best hiding place in the whole arena."

"Don't we know it." I grinned, gesturing around me. "Make yourselves comfortable."

"Did you pick up anything from the cornucopia?" Dimitri asked.

"Sure did! I'm quite proud of our haul."

Christian set his pack on the floor and reached for Lissa's.

"We may as well pool it all together." Dimitri said, gesturing to our supplies.

"Uh… wow. That's a _lot_ of stuff you got there." Christian muttered, not seeming quite so proud anymore. Suddenly, he shook his head. "Well, if we're pooling it all together… I call dibs on this." He grinned, pulling out something small and metal.

"What-?"

He held up a hand to silence me and pressed the trigger. Fire streamed from the barrel and singed the wall. He got a flamethrower gun.

Figures.

"Yeah, that's really nice Pyro, but we have more important things to be doing right now than burning the place down."

He growled as Lissa sighed. "What's the matter Liss?" I asked, taking immediately to the nickname. It just sounded… right.

"I looked for a bow and arrows at the cornucopia but-"

"Here!" I grinned, handing her the silver set we had collected. Her eyes widened as her fingers trailed gently along the surface.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded earnestly, holding it out to her.

"Thank you."

Suddenly the anthem that preceded the death recap echoed around us. We rushed to the mouth of the cave just in time to see the Capitol seal fading from the sky. The first face to show up on the projection was the boy from District 3, then the boy from 5.

"I killed him." Dimitri whispered roughly, staring hard at the rough stone floor. My eyes widened but I quickly recovered myself.

"It was you or him Comrade." I reassured him, holding his hand in both of mine. His brown eyes flicked up to meet mine quickly before turning to the sky.

The face to show then was Meredith's, the boring girl from 7. The boys from 8 and 9 were both killed. Next came-

"Bitch doll." I stated, staring up at the perfect blonde ringlets and sky blue eyes. Dimitri gave me a funny look which I ignored.

The last picture was the girl from 11, with red hair and blue eyes. It was quickly replaced by the Capitol seal, and then the screen disappeared.

Afterwards, we went through Lissa and Christian's packs, finding more food, a couple of knives and a big blanket. It was starting to get pretty late, so we decided to try and get some sleep.

"I'll take first shift." Dimitri volunteered, propping himself up against the wall.

"Wake me up when you want to sleep, 'kay?"

He nodded. I let Lissa and Christian take the sleeping bags, seeing as I would have to get up for my shift anyway. The blanket was surprisingly warm, and I fell asleep quickly.

Gasping, I sat up. My long hair was stuck to the sheen of sweat on my forehead and I couldn't seem to catch my breath.

I had another nightmare. Starring Dimitri.

"Rose?" A voice whispered, cutting through the darkness.

"Yeah?" I asked casually, trying to calm myself down.

"What happened?" I looked in Dimitri's general direction, trying to make out his figure in the blackness. I crawled over carefully and slid down the wall beside him.

"Nightmare." I whispered, leaning into his chest. His arms went around me automatically.

"God Rose, you're shaking!" he cried quietly, prying the blanket from my clutches and wrapping it round me. I quickly adjusted it so that it covered us both.

"You can sleep now, if you want. I'm not tired anymore." I whispered to him.

"I can't leave you in this state. Besides, it's almost sunrise." He replied, pointing to a crack in the rocks.

"Dimitri!" I cried. Christian rolled over in his sleep. "Dimitri." I said, quieter this time. "I told you to wake me."

"But I wasn't tired, and you were sleeping peacefully for the first time in a week." He argued, tracing patterns on the blanket.

"Well thank you." I whispered, kissing his cheek and burying myself in his chest. "But you really should sleep now."

"Fine." He replied, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. No more than a few minutes later, his breathing deepened and evened out.

_Ha, knew you were tired_, I thought smugly, making myself comfortable. I tried to concentrate as I watched the cave walls, listening hard for something unexpected. Nothing… How boring. And I was starting to feel tired again…

"Aw… Look at them. Aren't they so cute?" I recognised the voice but I couldn't quite place it.

"Cute in an 'aw, a pony!' kinda way or cute in a 'pass the barf bag,' kinda way?" A different voice asked sarcastically.

"In an 'aw, they're the perfect couple' kinda way, you weirdo." The familiar voice replied.

"Hm… Well… I think its more 'pass the barf bag', but I'll leave the romantic stuff to you Lissa."

_Lissa?_

I cracked one eye open to see Christian and Lissa standing before us, arms crossed and expressions thoughtful.

"Hey there. Wanna tell me why you're watching me sleep?"

Lissa's eyes widened. "Did we wake you?"

"I… No." _Yep_.

"You just looked so cute."

"So you were saying." I replied dryly. She blushed.

I took this ideal moment to figure out – somewhat guiltily – that I had fallen asleep during my shift. Not only had I fallen asleep, I had fallen asleep on _Dimitri_, wrapped in his arms with my head on his chest.

I averted my eyes and threw the blanket off me, though keeping it over Dimitri. He stirred as I untangled myself from his arms, and opened his eyes groggily.

"Morning." I said cheerfully, holding out my hand. Dimitri threw the blanket to one side and grabbed on firmly. I pulled him up and slapped him on the back.

"I knew you were tired." I smirked.

"Me too; just not as tired as you." He countered casually, going to haul the boulders to the side to give us some light. Suddenly his back muscles went rigid, and he turned with wide eyes.

"Tributes." He mouthed pointing downwards. "Might be the careers."

My hand immediately went to my stake, and I let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm ready."

Dimitri shook his head. "I'm going alone." I was frowning before he even finished the sentence.

"No-"

"Yes Rose. Don't let her come after me." he said to the other two, gesturing to me. Lissa nodded, pain flaring in her eyes.

"Come back to me." I whispered brokenly. I couldn't lose my… brother, for lack of a better word. He meant too much to me.

"I will." He whispered, standing directly in front of me and leaning down.

_Oh my God, he's going to kiss me!_ I thought in a rush, blood rushing to my cheeks.

At the last second, I realised that he was in fact leaning in to kiss my cheek, which made me feel kind of stupid. Without another word, he turned on his heel and disappeared over the edge of cliff face.

The wait was long and tense. I wanted to look down over the Arena to see if I could spot Dimitri, but Christian wouldn't let me. _Too dangerous_, he said. I knew he was right but that didn't stop me from arguing.

After twenty minutes of impatient waiting, we heard scuffling outside.

"Brace yourselves." Christian ordered, picking up his flamethrower gun. "That could be the careers."

I hoped to God it was Dimitri.

I stepped up beside Christian, pulling my stake. Lissa drew her bow and stood next to me with a hard, determined look colouring her pretty face.

Just for dramatic effect, Christian pulled the trigger as the shuffling drew louder. Fire billowed from the barrel and paired with the bow and arrows and the stake, we probably looked pretty damn heroic.

A shock of red hair appeared over the lip of the cliff, followed by a pissed off voice.

"Jeez man, calm down. I'm climbing as fast as I can!" the boy fell onto the ledge and finally noticed us. He audibly gulped in fear and cast us a shaky smile.

"Hey guys. You really don't need those, you know." he stammered, sitting up. Christian let go of the trigger, and the fire disappeared.

" Don't move an _inch_. Who are you?"

"Mason Ashford, District 7. Just an advance warning-"

"Rose!"

"Dimitri?" I yelled hopefully, a grin crossing my face. Mason rolled his eyes as I passed by him.

"Rose! Don't impair those two just yet. I'll explain in a minute." Dimitri shouted from the ground, just as another tribute stumbled up onto the ledge. I recognised him; he was bitch doll's partner. He brushed himself off and stood beside Mason.

"And you are?"

"Eddie Castile, District 10."

"Rose Hathaway, District 12." I replied in a confident voice. Dimitri chose this moment to hike himself up onto the ledge.

"Dimitri! Why the hell did you take so long?" I yelled, throwing myself at him. He chuckled quietly into my hair.

"I didn't take _that_ long."

I shrugged. "Whatever. Now, explain to me what are these two clowns doing in our cave."

"They want to ally with us."

I shot him a look that said, _more allies?_

He nodded and whispered, "What do you think?"

"Hell, let them stay. I don't care."

I grinned, turning back to the boys.

"Welcome to the team. Make yourselves comfortable." I said casually, gesturing around the cave.

"Thanks." Mason grinned, eyes unsubtly raking up and down my body. I shook my head.

"You can look, but you can't touch… You know what, don't even look! I have more than enough capability to break your face… just remember that." I growled. He nodded mutely and sat down.

"So, we're all on the same page then. Mason, Eddie, I'm Rose. That's Christian and Lissa from District 6, and that's Dimitri." You'd have to be deaf not to hear the care, loyalty and respect ringing in my voice when I mentioned him.

Mason shot Eddie a look that said, '_is she for real_?'

"So, is it true?"

"Is what true?" Dimitri asked curiously, arching an eyebrow. I grimaced. Why couldn't _I_ do that?

"This whole relationship thing you've got going on." Mason chuckled.

"Look Mase, everyone knows Dimitri has a crush on _one_ of the girl tributes. I just don't see why everyone thinks it's _me_!"

Mason and Eddie looked at each other, and then at me… like I was missing something big.

"Uh… Yeah. Why does everyone think that?" Dimitri agreed. I tried going through all the female tributes in my head. Which one was it?

Not me, Lissa, or the girls from 7, 10 or 11, who were all dead. It couldn't be the girls from one, two or four either, seeing as they were careers. That left the girls from Districts 3, 5, 8 and 9, none of which were exactly memorable.

Had Dimitri fallen for one of them?

"So… who wants something to eat?" Lissa asked suddenly, shooting Dimitri and I sympathetic looks.

Mason and Eddie both cried 'you've got food?" at the same time. I grinned.

"Sure we do. But we're going to have to get some more soon. I might go and do some hunting."

"We'll come." Mason said quickly.

"Bu-" Eddie began, stopping quickly when he got an elbow to the stomach. "Yeah, we'll come."

"Well, in that case, you guys can stay here and get some food ready while we hunt."

Lissa nodded, Christian scowled and Dimitri raised an eyebrow.

"You're demoting me to chef?"

"Yes Comrade, yes I am." I grinned, patting his shoulder sympathetically. "You can come next time."

He sighed as I turned away from him.

"Hey Liss, can I bring your bow? Stakes aren't all that great for hunting."

She smiled and reached over for the gleaming silver bow and arrows leaning against the wall. I strapped them securely onto my back before tucking my stake into my waistband – just in case. Lastly, I filled a rucksack with our water bottles, the wire, tubing and iodine. Mason and Eddie armed themselves with the retractable spear and a long bladed knife and we were off.

I took point and climbed down the rocks first. Once I made sure everything was as it should be, I beckoned the other two down after me. They landed noisily behind me.

"Just an advance warning guys – we're _hunting_. That means _no noise_." I hissed, walking away.

"You hear that? No noise, dude." Mason grinned, wagging a finger at Eddie.

I spun on my heel. "What is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem babe." He said lazily.

"Sorry, what did you just call me? It better not have been babe." I growled, my hand inching towards his throat.

Mason remained silent.

"Ashford, I don't _want_ to kill you, but I _will_ if you keep being such an asshole."

"Okay, I'm sorry. We good?" he asked, turning on puppy dog eyes. I grinned.

"You know Mase, you're more like me than I thought."

"Not sure I like the sound of that." He grimaced.

"Ah, don't worry. You'll get used to it… eventually. Now, let's hunt."

Eddie ended up not having the slightest notion how to hunt, and Mason kept chatting noisily to me with not the slightest consideration of all the game he was scaring away.

"Shut _up_." I hissed, expertly setting up some snares.

"God, you and Dimitri aren't exactly cheerful, are you?"

"Oh no, I can be plenty cheerful when I want to be." I growled.

Mason wrinkled his noise. "If you weren't so beautiful, I would have no _idea _what Dimitri sees in you."

"Mase, we've already been over this. Dimitri does _not_ have the hots for me."

"Ha," Eddie snorted, which earned him a glare. "Oh… you were serious."

"Deadly."

"Ah… this is awkward. Mase, do you wanna tell her, or will I?"

"I'll let you do the honours, man." Mason whispered loudly, paling slightly under my glare.

"Rose, um… Dimitri has it bad for you… _Super_ bad."

And then I did something that surprised us all. I laughed.

Well, 'laughed' would be a polite term.

Eddie and Mason watched in amusement as I collapsed into a heap of tears, giggles and side-splitting smiles.

"That's… ridiculous…" I gasped, trying to relax my aching cheeks. Was I seriously the only sane person in Panem? Was I the only person who heard Dimitri denying his 'crush' on me?

"Not ridiculous… _True_."

"Not true… _Ridiculous_." I argued; face abruptly snapping to utter sobriety.

"Yeah." Mason nodded seriously. A few seconds later, the mask began to crack and a grin lit up his face. Before he could say anything, I turned on my heel and walked off once more.

"Come on," I groaned over my shoulder. "I just want to go home now."

Boy, this was going to be a long day.

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><p><strong>YAY!<strong>

**Eddie and Mason... WOOP WOOP! :D love those two!**

**I know Mason seems like a total ass in this, but it will get better!**

**Also, i am incredibly conflicted at the minute because i cant decide whether to go ahead with my TAP (Good on ye if you remember what that is!) It's VERY vampire academy, but not very hunger games... what do you all think?**

**ANOTHER thing... GUESS WHAT?**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**I'm going to write a book... or start it, anyways.**

**YAY!**

**It's looking pretty cool so far, and I might post a short synopsis in my next update and see what you guys think :D**

**Anyway, that is all... Until next time!**

**Annie x**


	7. Abyss

**Hi guys! :D sorry it took me so long to update... you all know the woes of school :(**

**Anyways, i think that chapter's pretty interesting... we get to find out why Rose and Dimitri hated each other so much, and we get some insight on Mason's thoughts! Woo! It's really sad though :(**

**Thank you so much to all the people who reviewed : Sarah Ozera, RandomnessQueen1, MsRoseBelikov1, she lives in a daydream, kittenxxkisses, BadassSyd, SirenTheSpazz, olivia williams, jessicawinchester27, Trinity The Crazy, Tayla.c and DXR! :D woopwoop!**

****Also, RandomnessQueen1, that WAS part of the TAP... good guessing! :D**

**So, we have two new POV's in this chappie, no RPOV or DPOV in sight! This time, we have Mason telling the story, and a little bit of Viktoria! :D**

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><p>MASON POV<p>

It was a long day, just as Rose had predicted. We walked around the arena aimlessly until sunset, when we finally decided to head back to the cave. Thankfully the day hadn't been completely wasted; we – well, Rose – had managed to catch three fat rabbits with her snares and fill up all of our water bottles.

I was surprisingly tired now, and maybe that was why I didn't notice the strange animal strutting across our path. Before Eddie and I could even react, Rose had pulled her bow, and an arrow was flying straight for its eye.

Rose went to pick up what could now be identified as a groosling, which we had back in our District. Eddie shot me an impressed look.

"That was… some pretty clean shooting…" I choked out.

"Thanks." Rose grinned, adding the bird to her belt with the other kills.

"I… uh… hmmm…" I mumbled; following her as she weaved expertly back to the cave. I literally couldn't not summon words to describe her. She was unlike any creature I had ever seen. And seriously, was there anything she couldn't do?

I think she was starting to get annoyed with Eddie and me. We had been badgering her relentlessly about Dimitri since we left the cave… and were soon to start up again.

"So, what is it about Dimitri that puts you off?" Eddie asked. He reminded me a bit of a therapist.

Rose sighed wearily. "_Nothing_, for the last time. He's… an amazing guy."

My eyes met Eddie's. We couldn't understand how you could call a guy 'amazing' and yet not want to be with him.

"That doesn't make sense." I pointed out.

"It makes perfect sense, Ashford. I'm done here. I want food." She growled in response, scaling the cliff in mere seconds and disappearing through the crack in the rocks.

That was all the reminder I needed, and I was climbing up after her.

"Honeyyy, I'm hoooome!" she sang as I lugged myself up onto the ledge. Dimitri greeted her with open arms, glad to have her back in his sights.

"Roza," he murmured, hugging her tightly. I sighed and looked back at Eddie, who was just dusting himself off. He looked up and pointed at Dimitri. I nodded and stepped between him and Rose.

"Sorry to ruin the moment, but we need to talk to you." I informed Belikov, watching his expression turn from confused to impassive.

"Fine."

We led him out of the cave and into the trees. As I surveyed him, I couldn't help but feel intimidated. He was so tall, so strong, so powerful…

He made me feel like I was four years old.

"Um… Listen…" Eddie muttered, trying to find the right words.

"Are you in love with Rose?" I asked bluntly.

"What's it to you, Ashford? Jealous?" he shot back.

"Course not." I replied, not convincing in the slightest. Eddie shot me a sympathetic look; he knew all about it.

Dimitri's expression softened. "You do love her…"

"How could you not?" I asked dejectedly. She was amazing: beautiful, strong, fierce, funny… everything a girl should be and more. She made me feel alive when she was near me – corny as that sounds. I felt like I could tell her anything.

"Touché." Dimitri murmured, no doubt thinking about Rose, as I was.

"I'm going to go for a walk… I'll see you guys in a while." I whispered, turning and running out of the clearing.

I kept on running until I was far, far away. My emotions were hard to pin down, and even harder to put into words. I was wistful, angry, sad, hopeful, brooding… all at the same time. Rose was making my head tie itself in knots; I just couldn't figure her out. And then there was Belikov: my competition. I guess you could say I was jealous of him. He was a freaking God… there was no way I could come out on top over him. And, no matter how much Rose denied it, she clearly had the hots for him. She might not even realize it yet, but I could see it plain as day.

Eddie was my saving grace at the minute. He pretended to be interested when I vividly described everything Rose did. He let me vent my anger at myself for not even having the guts to tell her how I feel. He didn't judge me when I hurled pointless insults at Belikov… and most importantly, he comforted me when I felt like I couldn't watch their twisted love story any longer.

My breathing gradually got harsher, more labored, as I walked. I felt like I could punch a tree, which probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

With a scream of frustration, I spun and drove my fist into the body of a massive sycamore tree. It hurt like hell, and I let out another scream, this one of pain. I nursed my bleeding hand and kept walking, the blood pounding in my ears. My rage overshadowed all other emotions, and caught up in the moment, I continued to power-walk through the forest, punching trees and screaming insults. I didn't even care that the careers might hear me. All I cared about was that Rose and Belikov were going to fall in love, and I was going to be left in the dust. Again.

Finally, I decided that I couldn't walk any more, and slid down the trunk of a tree. I hit the ground with a thud, the dead bark on the ground digging into the cuts on my hands. I didn't even notice as my anger dissolved and tears took over. Great, heaving sobs shook my body, so hard that I couldn't seem to support my body weight any more. I lay down on my side, the world swimming in strange, blurry ways through the waterfall of tears that were cascading down my cheeks. I couldn't even remember why I was so sad any more. I didn't care that Eddie would come looking for me soon. I didn't care that the whole of Panem was probably watching me right now. I didn't care that the careers could be watching from the shadows, ready to shoot me down.

I had given up. I just didn't care any more.

VIKTORIA POV

"Oh. My. God. They've got it _so_ bad for each other!" my best friend, Katniss, cried.

"I know… and I thought they hated each other…" I muttered. I had heard of Rose Hathaway, she was something of a novelty in the Seam. Despite her meagre diet, she still had curves that any girl would be envious of, and a face to match. Her hair was long and lustrous; which was also uncommon for us Seam girls. I could understand why my brother would be captivated with her physically, but I had always thought that he had preferred girls with a little more… substance. From what I'd heard round here, Rose was, for want of a better word, a bitch. She treated most people like they were a piece of coal stuck to her boot, and that was on a good day. Yet everyone loved her. I just didn't get it.

But never, never, _never _did I expect my _brother _of all people to fall under her spell.

I didn't think he could ever forgive her for what she'd done to him.

_I watched, filled with envy, as Rose giggled with her friends. She was only fourteen, and yet, she was already popular and gorgeous. Why couldn't I be that beautiful, that confident? Why did I have to be quiet and insecure?_

"_And then, we-" she began, turning from her audience to me. "Hey kid, you're Dimitri Belikov's sister, right?"_

"_Yes…" I replied carefully, straightening my jacket._

"_Cool." She said, and without another word, she launched back into her story. _

_I walked away, wondering what why she had asked me that. As far as I knew, she didn't know Dimitri. He knew her though… he'd had a crush on her ever since they were kids, though he'd never actually spoken to her. I found it pretty cute, though, at nine years old, love was kind of beyond understanding to me._

_When lunch time came, we all filed in to the large hall in the middle of the school to eat. I looked around for Katniss, my best friend, but instead saw something that I wasn't expecting. Rose Hathaway, covered in what looked like some of Greasy Sae's broth, with my brother standing opposite her. They looked like they were arguing, so I shuffled forward – like many others – to listen in._

"… _Can't believe you did that!" Rose cried, wringing her hair out._

"_It was a freaking accident!" Dimitri yelled in response. I think I always knew that their personalities would clash, but not over something as simple as spilt soup._

"_You've always had it in for me, Dimitri Belikov… and I don't know why!"_

"_I've always had it in for you? I'm not the one who's psychotic over some spilt broth!" _

"_Psychotic? You have no right to say that after what your mother did!" _

_Dimitri's expression turned blank. "W-What?"_

"_Yeah, that's right… your mother the whore." She growled._

"_What the hell are you talking about? My mother is not having an affair!"_

"_I'm so sure. I've seen her coming to my house… to see my father." _

_I could see what she was doing. She had something against Dimitri so she decided to just get him out of the picture by condemning him in front of the entire school. I knew for sure that my mother was not a 'whore', whatever that was. She was lovely._

"_That's not true. Don't you _dare_ speak of my mother like that." My brother growled, fists clenched. _

"_It's not true? Sure it is… Last I heard, it ran in the family. Apparently, one of your sisters is sleeping around." Rose said innocently._

"_W-What? No, of course not! They're eleven and twelve years old!" Dimitri yelled furiously, jaw strained. He was very protective of us, and whatever Rose was saying was hitting a nerve._

_Sonya and Karolina had just entered the room and I waved them over to me._

"_What happened?" Sonya whispered. I quickly filled them in on what had happened. They both looked a bit stricken, so I turned back to the battle in front of me to give them a few minutes to take it all in._

"_As if that would stop them…" Rose sneered. "Face it, Belikov, your family aren't the perfect little angels that you thought they were."_

"_Well guess what, Hathaway, they're all worth one hundred of you." Dimitri shot back, shaking now from the anger._

_Rose's angry expression fell away to reveal shock._

"_You aren't used to getting what you give, are you?" Dimitri asked. Without waiting for an answer, he moved on. "Well then. You, Rose, are a precious little bitch. You are spoiled by your illegal mobster father, and your arrogant mother is something to behold. I know for a fact that at least half of this school doesn't like you – the less popular half, might I add – because you unknowingly bully them for not being as beautiful as you, or not as strong, or smart. You seem to think that the sun revolves around where you're standing. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it doesn't. You are no better than anyone in the Seam, though some would say you're a hell of a lot worse. I can't even see why anyone would waste their time getting to know you, because I certainly wouldn't."_

_And that was when Dimitri's anger hit breaking point. He stormed off, fists clenching and unclenching mechanically at his sides. Rose stayed frozen, tears springing in her eyes. I'd seen her make plenty of people cry, though I'd never seen her do it herself. Her friends had swarmed her, assuring her that 'none of it was true' and 'he was just jealous'. I shook my head in disgust. I was nine, and I even knew it was all true. _

_Finally, something clicked in Rose's head. She pushed past the crowd that had gathered and ran outside, her quiet tears escalating into great, heaving sobs. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. I knew that most people would take her side over my brother's because she looked more upset. But I knew him well, and I could see that he was devastated at hearing whatever Rose had been spouting._

_It's funny to think that this whole thing started with spilt soup._

_END FLASHBACK_

I remembered when Dimitri came home that day. He was still shaking, still murderously angry. He wouldn't come down for dinner, and he wouldn't let mama into his room to talk to him. I tried next, calling gently through the door. After a few minutes, shuffling echoed from the room and the door opened a tiny bit. I slipped inside to find my brother sitting on his bed, crying.

Now, before that day, I had never seen Dimitri cry. Even when he broke his ankle when we were kids. If he was ever hurt, he just put on a brave face and got on with it.

But not today.

I sat down beside him and pulled him into me, stroking his hair and whispering to him. We sat like that for hours, with Dimitri repeating, 'it's not true… Tell me it isn't true, Vika…" every so often in a frenzied tone. I didn't even understand half of what went on that day, only that it had earned Dimitri a fearful reputation around school.

"Viktoooria!" Katniss cried, waving her hand in front of my face. I jumped.

"Yes?"

"Look! They're on again!" she exclaimed. Katniss loved the idea of Dimitri and Rose falling in love during the Hunger Games.

I watched with skepticism as Rose climbed up to the cave that the tributes called home.

"Honeyyy, I'm hoooome! She yelled, grinning when she spotted Dimitri waiting for her. She ran to his arms, and he whispered, 'Roza,' like he was so relieved to have her back. If it weren't for the fact that the Games were mandatory viewing, I would've switched the TV off.

Then, finally, something interesting happened. Mason asked Dimitri to talk to him outside. I didn't realize that I was tapping my foot impatiently waiting for them to climb down the rocks until Eddie spoke.

"_Um… Listen…" he muttered, stammering like he was trying to find the right words._

"_Are you in love with Rose?" Mason asked, somewhat bluntly. Finally, someone was going to confront my idiotic brother about his love for The Bitch._

"_What's it to you, Ashford? Jealous?" Dimitri shot back._

"_Course not." Mason replied, not convincing in the slightest_.

"Oh for the love of all that's sane! They _both_ love her?"

"I guess…" Katniss agreed, nodding along.

_Dimitri's expression softened. "You do love her…"_

"_How could you not?" Mason asked miserably. _

"_Touché." Dimitri murmured in response._

"_I'm going to go for a walk… I'll see you guys in a while." Mason whispered, turning and running out of the clearing. _

"Aw… that's so sad." Katniss said softly. I nodded. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the red haired tribute from District 7. Suddenly, the camera flicked to the careers, and I felt my attention being drawn away from the television set. I literally couldn't stand watching them.

"Uh. Screw the rules, I'm not watching any more." I sighed, heading over to the bed. I sat down with my head in my hands and tried to figure out what was going through my brother's head.

MASON POV

"Mason! Mase! Where are you?" Rose yelled, just like she had been for the past half hour. I didn't answer her. I just kept rocking, back and forth, back and forth. She was getting closer, I knew that much.

"Mason Ashford, where the hell are you?" she shouted, not seeming to remember the fact that she was being hunted. I was starting to get worried. She was too close–

"Mase!" she cried in relief. "Why weren't you—"

"Oh my God. What happened to you?" she asked.

"I might have punched a few trees…" I told her hoarsely, absentmindedly rubbing my bloody knuckles.

"Oh Mason…" she whispered brokenly, sliding down beside me. "Why?"

"I-"

Suddenly, she leapt up. "What is that?" she asked, pointing to the sky, which was turning black.

"I… don't know…" I replied, my misery forgotten. Something wasn't right.

Rose was already climbing one of the taller trees in the area.

"Holy shit!" she yelled, jumping down. "It's fire… and it's between us and the cave!"

"What do you mean, fire?"

"I _mean,_" she emphasized, "there's a wall of fire in front of the cave and it stretches as far as the eye can see!"

"Gamemakers…" I muttered.

"RUN!" she screamed, seeing the flames licking at the trees in the distance.

And we did.

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><p><strong>Oooh... wasnt that interesting?<strong>

**So, now we all know what happened between Rose and Dimitri, AND Rose and Mason have been spilt up from the group. How will Dimitri react?**

**To find that out... you have to REVIEW! :D they're greatly appreciated, and the best one gets the next chapter dedicated to them! XD**

**Until next time,**

**Annie x**


	8. Chaos

**Hey guys! New chapter, woop! :D**

**Thank you to my amazebubbles reviewers: DXR, Sarah Ozera, RandomnessQueen1, MsRoseBelikov1, SirenTheSpazz, cellogrrl123, algo de belleza, vampyrechik and Belikovforever :D Yay thank yoou!**

**There's an awful lot happening in this chapter (damn gamemakers!) and everyone finds themselves in a bit of bother...**

**I'll say no more... enjoy!**

**Annie x**

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><p>HUNGRY FOR YOU 8<p>

CPOV

I sniffed and looked over to where Lissa was trying to cook up the groosling Rose had caught. Something was burning.

"What are you doing to that poor thing?" I asked.

She frowned as she met my gaze. "Nothing. It's still raw, but… can you smell something burning?"

I nodded and looked to Dimitri for a third opinion. "I can smell it—" he began.

"Holy crap!" I cried, looking out over the arena. The sky was completely black from the thick plumes of smoke coming from the—

"Fire." Liss breathed, screeching to a stop beside me. I shook my head in disbelief. A huge barrier of fire that seemed to stretch on for miles in every direction was blocking us from the rest of the arena. It towered over the trees, at least three times their height.

Quite frankly, I was scared.

It seemed to be moving away from us, which was good, but that meant it was moving towards Rose and Mason, wherever they were. Hopefully, they were on our side of the flames. Eddie suddenly pushed past me to see the chaos for himself.

"Mason's out there somewhere…" he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut as if not seeing would make it not real.

"What are you all talking about? What's happened?" Dimitri asked, slipping his stake back into his waistband. He stopped abruptly when his quick eyes took in the turmoil taking place below us.

"Rose… Roza's out there!" he cried. "My Roza… NO!" Before any of us could stop him, he slid down the cliff face and took off running through the trees.

I knew what I had to do. "Stay here." I ordered firmly, grabbing a large backpack and skidding down after Dimitri.

"Christian, NO!" Lissa screamed, appearing on the ledge. As I stared up at her, my heart gave a painful squeeze. I had to leave her. Lissa, the girl who I'd always had a tiny little crush on, but had never spoken to before the Games. The girl who loved everyone, and was loved in return. The girl who was kind, gentle, and charismatic: the exact opposite of me: sarcastic and anti-social. The girl who probably didn't even know who I was before this mess.

The girl that I had to leave behind.

I needed to do this; for Dimitri, for Rose, Lissa, Mason… everyone. _She'll be safe in the cave_, I reassured myself calmly, though I felt anything but.

Eddie suddenly appeared on the cliff and caught her before she climbed down after me.

He nodded to me. "Go. I'll keep her safe."

And with that I left Eddie behind, a sobbing Lissa in his arms.

As soon as I turned away, my game face slid into place. I needed to find Dimitri before he did something stupid… or died of smoke inhalation.

"Dimitri! Hey! Belikov, where are you?" I yelled into the blackness that was settling around me. My breath was scratching up and down my throat and my eyes were watering. I couldn't see where I was going, and I hit a few trees as I walked. After ten minutes of fruitless searching, I decided to climb one.

I couldn't see much because of the smoke, but a faint outline of the surrounding area was just about visible. Finally, I spotted Dimitri running away from me, away from the cave… towards the fire.

I jumped down and broke into a sprint. I couldn't go as fast as I would've liked because of how difficult it was to breathe, but I powered on anyway.

I just hoped I could find him before it was too late.

DPOV

"Rose… Roza's out there! My Roza… NO!" I cried brokenly. Roza, the girl I had fallen in love with, was out there somewhere. She might even be dead.

No. No no no. She was a fighter. She wouldn't let that happen.

_I_ wouldn't let that happen.

Without even thinking about it, I leapt off the ledge and skidded down the side of the small cliff. I had to find Rose. I should have told her I loved her weeks ago. Hell, I should've told her when we were fourteen, before she randomly started loathing me. The point was: I should've told her how I felt.

She couldn't die before I told her once.

If I could find her, I would tell her how heartbreakingly beautiful she was, how she lit up my world like nobody else could, how, in the short space of a few weeks, I had somehow managed to fall for her all over again.

And most importantly, I would say those three simple words. I. Love. You.

For now though, I didn't care whether my feelings were returned. All I wanted was to have her safe in my arms, and know that she was alive.

"Belikov! Hey, wait!" Christian yelled from almost right behind me.

I stiffened. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm saving your ass." He replied, choking on the smoke, which was getting worse. The whole arena was little more than a black haze. Some part of my mind was wondering how the Capitol had fixed the cameras so that they could film through the smoke. They wouldn't miss this because of something so insignificant. With a harsh shake of my head, I shoved that thought back with disgust.

"Well I'm saving Rose's. I'm not going back without her, so whether you're coming with me is your choice."

A torn expression crossed his face. "I-I… okay, fine. Lead the way."

Coughing, we sprinted through the forest, shouting for Rose and Mason. They didn't answer to our calls, nor did we find them. I couldn't even see what direction we were running in any more. For all we could see, we could be running back towards the cave. I had to squint through the smoke every so often to see if Christian was still there. My lungs were burning; I knew we needed to find water soon. Cold, fresh, oxygen-filled water. As if to reinforce this need, I let out a spluttering cough that scratched my throat like there were sharp nails raking up and down it.

Christian looked even worse for wear than I did. I was used to the heavy smoke that was surrounding us, what with being from the coal district. Christian, being from 6, who produced gold and silver, wasn't as prepared. He looked ready to keel over, and I knew that it was up to me to get us to safety.

Suddenly, Christian stumbled, his eyes flickering closed for a second. I caught him against my chest and snaked my arm underneath his shoulders. Right now, I was the only thing keeping him up.

"Christian!" I yelled. He dragged his eyelids open. "Christian, we have to keep moving! I know that its hard and I know that you need oxygen, but we have to power on! If not, we're going to die here! Your choice."

Then, in the most miraculous revival I've ever witnessed, Christian's eyes opened fully and he blinked a couple of times before staring at me. "Let's do this." He agreed, his shaky legs becoming stronger, steadier. He was now supporting me as much as I was him. He'd summoned a burst of power from somewhere and I for one wasn't intending to waste it.

"Come on!" I yelled, running as hard as I could with Christian right beside me the entire time. The smoke started to thin out as we ran further away.

Suddenly, we weren't on the ground anymore. We were falling downwards… and hit what felt like muddy water almost immediately. Christian cried out excitedly and whooped. I, however, was deathly silent. Because we weren't in water. This wasn't a lake or a pond, or a river, or a stream or anything of the sort.

It was a pit of quicksand.

EPOV

"I'm scared." Lissa whimpered, huddling closer to me. We were pressed up against the cave's back wall as the fire raged outside. I knew how she felt. Never before had I been subjected to so much in the space of a few days.

"I know, Liss, I know." I whispered. "You know what they're doing, don't you?"

"Who?" she sniffed.

"The Gamemakers. They're trying to split us all up. Rose and Mason, Dimitri and Christian, me and you."

She stared up at me defiantly. "Dimitri and Christian are going to find Rose and Mason, and then they're going to come back to us."

"I—" A tremendously loud rumble cut me off. It sounded like it was coming from directly above us. "What was that?"

"I think it was—" another rumble.

That's when stones started to fall over the doorway, starting with tiny pebbles and quickly turning into large rocks.

"Liss, we need to get out of here. They're trying to block us in." I yelled, pulling her up by the hand. The gap was getting smaller and smaller. I ran to the edge and poked my head out. "I'll go first and then I'll pull you out, alright?"

She nodded, tears cutting clean tracks as they rolled down her filthy face. "Hurry," was all she said. With a nod that was more for my benefit than hers, I swung my leg out and found the other side of the ledge, which had been reduced to mere centimetres in width. Quickly, and so as not to lose my balance, I brought my other leg out too. I had to grip onto the boulder beside me to stay upright, but I thought I could bring one hand away so that I could help Lissa.

Holding on with one hand was the best call I've ever made. As soon as my other hand reached out to Lissa, a rock about the size of my head landed on my fingers with a sharp crack. I screamed out in pain, which in turn made Lissa scream. I didn't even care that I was making a lot of noise, because my hand was currently being crushed by a rock. Any man who could take this silently must be made of iron. Hell, I don't think even _Dimitri_ could take this without crying out.

The only thing I could be thankful about was that it was only one of my hands, not two.

I couldn't begin to describe how excruciatingly painful it was. I felt like I was about to black out, and I knew it would be worse when I removed the rock.

The rock.

With my right hand, which thankfully hadn't been flattened, I shoved against the rock, which rolled away from me but then fell back again. I cursed and tried it again, letting out a strangled cry through gritted teeth when it spun and fell away down the hill somewhere.

I was going to be sick. All four fingers of my left hand were completely mangled. The flesh was hanging on by a thread and the bones were visible – and they seemed to be broken in several places. My thumb and the rest of my hand seemed to have escaped unharmed, but I knew nothing could be done for my fingers.

Mangled hand or no, I still had to get Lissa out.

I reached in for the second time, hoping she'd see. She must have, because I soon felt her loose grip close around my good hand. "I'm going to get you out of here, Lissa." I whispered, squeezing her fingers gently.

A clattering sound, like marbles rolling down a cobbled street, echoed around the rocks above me. I looked up just in time to see yet another flurry of stones being pelted at me, including a much larger rock, though smaller than the one that had landed on my hand.

The last thing I remembered was falling head over heels down the hill with a dull ache in the back of my head… and then I blacked out.

LPOV

He let go of my hand.

"Eddie?" I croaked, trying to see out of the incredibly tiny chink of light just above my head. As I neared it, a stone rolled across the gap, leaving me choking on dust in complete darkness. "Eddie?" I cried again, louder this time. There was no way he would've left me here… or would he?

No. He would never do that. I had no idea where he was, or if he was even alive, but I knew that he wouldn't leave me here. No way. I felt bad for even entertaining it.

"EDDIE…?" I yelled, as loudly as my worn voice would let me. No answer. "EDDIE CASTILE! YOU ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!" I screamed. Not even a whisper from the other side of the rocks. I was panicking.

I needed someone here with me. I wanted to have my mother's arms around me. Or my father's. Andre's. Rose's. Mason's. Eddie's. Even Dimitri would do, though he still scared me a little bit. Much as I wanted any one of them to have their arms around me, there was one person I needed right now. The guy I'd first met when I was thirteen. The guy that I'd fallen for, almost at first sight. I still remembered that day perfectly…

_It was Valentine's Day and the sun was shining. School had just let out, and I was on my way home to where my parents would most likely be all over each other. Unlike everyone else in my class, I didn't find it repulsive. Honestly, I was jealous. I wanted someone to look at me the way my father looked at my mother. I wanted someone to sweep me off my feet on a daily basis. I wanted love, even at thirteen years old. It's just the kind of person I was then – and probably always will be._

_Usually I walked home with Andre, my older brother, but today he was going to his friend's house, so I was alone. Instead of taking our usual route, which mainly stuck to the richer part of town, I opted to cut through the poorer half because it brought me through a beautiful meadow behind our house. I earned some strange looks as I ambled broodingly through the poor part of town – being the mayor's daughter, it was severely unorthodox. I didn't pay anyone any mind and just kept walking, tugging on my skirt distractedly every so often. _

_I was almost glad to reach the edge of the meadow, away from the curious gazes of my classmates. I tightened the bow in my hair and bent down to tie up my bootlace, which had come undone._

_That's when I saw the shadow in the grass._

_I could feel my heart pounding hard against my ribs. I had no idea who was behind me, and I didn't know if I wanted to find out. My legs straightened of their own accord. Breathing ragged, I flipped my long, blonde hair over my shoulder and turned to face the person standing behind me. It wasn't who I was expecting._

_It was him. The boy from school._

_I'd never spoken to him, but I'd seen him watching me in the playground sometimes. He didn't have any friends; he usually just stood against the wall, staring at his boots. Lots of the girls were scared of him, but I felt almost… drawn to him._

_He was standing slouched, one hand in the pocket of his old, stained slacks and one holding a droopy, oversized daisy. The sun was creating a halo of yellow light on his jet-black hair, which had tumbled forward into his eyes. His gaze was fixed on the ground, long black eyelashes casting faint shadows on his cheeks. I noticed that the hand holding the daisy was also fidgeting nervously with the bottom button of his shirt, which looked like it had been blue at one point but had now faded to grey. The sleeves were pushed up to the elbows, exposing pale, muscled arms underneath. Some might say that he looked scruffy, but I knew that life was hard for him. His mother and father had upped and left him and his five younger brothers and sisters recently, hoping to make it to the Capitol. People were saying that they'd gotten shot down as soon as they left the district. They might as well have been trying to commit suicide. I firmly believed that he had every right to look a little dishevelled, what with the circumstances. _

_He was looking at me, his ice blue eyes holding all the secrets of the world. I couldn't help but stare back, mesmerized. A tiny, flawless smile pulled up one corner of his mouth and he held the daisy out to me._

_"Happy Valentine's Day." He whispered, his hair falling over one eye. He shook his head exasperatedly and let out a heavy breath, making the long strands blow sideways, out of his face._

_I took the daisy and leaned forward. Before my brain had caught up with the rest of my body, I had kissed his cheek. "Thank you," I murmured._

_"Lissa!" someone called, probably my mother. I spun in the direction of the sound and found her standing at the back door of the house. I turned back around. "I'm sorry, I have to—"_

_But he was gone._

_END FLASHBACK_

Christian_._

I'd fallen a tiny bit harder for him every day since then. Now it took all my restraint not to just let my love for him show, especially since I was with him all day, every day.

I'd never dared to believe that my love was requited. I mean, sure, he'd done a few things over the years that might suggest otherwise, but I could never let myself hope, just in case.

A week after our first meeting, he'd given up his seat in class because my best friend, Camille (who, after meeting Rose, I realised wasn't really a best friend at all) had been moved to beside him. And then when we were fourteen, I'd been tripped up in the hallway by an older boy, and Christian had caught my arm as I fell and shot the bully a look of such venom that even_ I_ flinched back. Another time, he'd accidentally knocked into me outside, and had helped me pick up my books with that tiny, mysterious smile of his. Then when he came up on stage at the Reaping, he'd taken my hand behind his back and squeezed it tightly, away from the curious gaze of Twinkle, our escort.

"I miss you." I whispered quietly, so quietly I almost couldn't hear myself. The intense silence was suddenly cut apart by a cannon shot. I jumped up with a startled gasp, but refrained from screaming. I hoped that that wasn't for Eddie. Or Rose, Dimitri or Mason.

Or Christian. He was the only thing keeping me grounded here. If not for him, I would've gone insane a long time ago. And yet, after everything he'd done for me, I was sitting here moping when he – and all of my friends – needed me.

With a huff of determination, I strode closer and sized up the rocks in front of me. I couldn't move some of the bigger ones, but there were plenty small enough for me to shift. Using both hands, I pushed against one of the rocks at the top. It budged forward millimetre by millimetre until finally, it slid away and clattered down the hill. A small patch of daylight appeared, which I made bigger by getting rid of another rock, and then another, and another. Soon the hole was big enough for me to fit my head and shoulders out. I gritted my teeth and sprinted towards some of the bottom rocks, hoping to make the hole big enough to step through. A cry of pain and frustration escaped me when I hit the tightly packed wall and it didn't give. I screamed and kicked one of the rocks at the very bottom. A horrible grating sound rang in my ears as rock hit rock, but to my utter elation, the small boulder slid out from underneath the pile and tumbled down the hill. A cloud of dust rose as every other rock, small and large, started to shift and the wall began to fall in on itself. They toppled down the hill in a deafening avalanche, leaving a wide open space for me to climb through. The sunlight was blinding, the air too clear. I was dusty from head to foot, my hair was matted and dirty and my eyes were stinging from the dust in them but, despite all that, a massive grin made its way to my lips and refused to leave. I was out. I was free.

I grabbed all the rucksacks and tossed them down the hill one by one. They clattered to the bottom as I followed not long after. I made sure to test the rocks before I stood on them, for fear of another avalanche. I could see something black lying just out of reach of the rocks and I aimed for it, though I didn't know what it was. As I drew closer, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks.

It was Eddie.

He was lying face down in the dirt, one arm hanging limply above his head. His usually fair hair was crimson and sticky with blood. I dreaded what I'd find if I turned him over, but knew that I'd have to do it anyway. Gently, I gripped his upper arms with shaking hands and rolled him onto his back.

I had to look away.

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><p>Ooooh dear : not good, not good, not good at all!

So, i have a good idea of when the whole RxD thing's gonna happen... and i know some of you want it to be soon, but it has to be the right time! :D

Until my next UD,

Annie x


	9. Heartache

**Hi guys! SO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED! Gosh, school's been so hectic and all that jazz... and my laptop's hard drive broke-AGAIN! I had to rewrite the start of this chapter today, so it might be a little weird.. sorry!**

**Anyways, THANK YOU to RandomnessQueen1, olivia williams, DXR, BadassSyd, Sarah Ozera, QuantumKhaos, karla marie ivashkov, Oppa, vampyrechik, Marceline the Vamp. Queen, crazy4dimitri and Ximara1398! that's a lot of reviews :')**

**Also: I just want to point out to Maceline the Vamp. Queen that tesserae is the plural of tessera, and i agree, i got the whole 'cumulative votes' thing at the Reaping totally confused, and also, the spelling 'centre' etc isnt old english... it's just UK spelling :P**

**So, I cried when I wrote this chapter, I honestly did. it's really, REALLY sad! And this chappie and the next one were originally just one chapter, but it would've been like, 20 pages so I split it :P we have two newcomers in the plot now... (not for long, though!) and they are _not_ good news!**

**Enjoyyy!**

**Annie**

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><p>CHAPTER 9 – HEARTACHE<p>

CPOV

"Christian, we have to get out of this."

I turned slowly to the sound of Dimitri's voice, trying not to move too much. The quicksand was starting to climb up my chest. I gave a nod, not sure of how else to answer.

I looked around me, searching for anything that might help us. Dimitri pulled one arm from the pit, making him sink a few more inches. I watched as he lunged for a vine that was hanging from a nearby tree. After four tries, he managed to catch it with his left hand. Pulling his right arm free, he proceeded to haul himself slowly to the edge of the pit. As this was happening, I was sinking lower and lower. By the time he'd pulled himself onto solid ground, filthy and breathless, only my face was still above the quicksand.

Dimitri whirled as I shoved my hand to the surface, and he caught it tightly. He pulled me up and over to the edge of the pit, tugging so hard I thought my arm might come right out of its socket. I winced as I fell onto the ground beside him in a gasping, grateful heap. "Thanks," I breathed, my voice catching as I drank in more air.

"No problem," Dimitri replied, panting. We lay side by side for a while, trying to catch our strength. The smoke was starting to clear, and I couldn't smell the telltale tang of burning trees any more. The fire must have stopped.

"Christian, watch out!" Dimitri yelled suddenly, rolling to his feet so fast I would've missed the movement had I blinked. A dagger was there in his hand a second later, and then it was gone, flying expertly through the air with careful aim. The boy, who I hadn't even seen standing over me, clutching a long, nasty-looking dagger, fell back with the hilt of Dimitri's knife protruding from his neck. The sound of the cannon made us both jump as we collapsed to the ground for the second time, exhausted.

"I owe you one… two," I corrected, and hauled myself to my feet wearily. "We'd better go back to the cave; see if Lissa and Eddie are there."

Dimitri nodded, collected the boy's pack, and followed me back through the trees to the cave. We walked briskly, but didn't really hurry. It's not like we had anything to worry about. Lissa and Eddie were the two that were safe. And Rose and Mason hopefully were too, now that the fire had been extinguished. There had been no cannon shots except the one for the boy Dimitri had killed.

When we finally made it back to the cave, my nerves were like a hopelessly frayed piece of string. I scared myself into thinking something might have happened to Lissa, and now I would have to see her with my own eyes to make sure she was alright.

The cave had been trashed—probably by the Gamemakers. The precarious pile of boulders that used to hide the entrance was now scattered on the ground at the bottom of the hill. A large, flat rock near us had a large puddle of dried blood painted on it. My breath—and my heartbeat—caught for a second.

"Christian." Dimitri caught my arm and cocked his head to the side. "Listen."

I strained to hear what he could, and soon became aware of the soft, rhythmic hissing of someone sobbing. Someone who sounded a lot like Lissa.

"Lissa?" I yelled, hoping and praying to anyone and anything for an answer. Seconds later, it came. It was muffled with tears, and shaking with agony, but it was music to my ears.

"Christian? Is that you?" She was there suddenly, her pale blonde hair shining. I tackled her, almost knocking her over.

"Lissa… God, Lissa. I thought something had happened to you. Don't… never scare me like that again. I'm—I thought you might have… I'm so just glad you're—alright." I'd never been so lost for words in my life.

She buried her head in my chest and let me wrap her arms around her as she sobbed. "Eddie's dead," she wailed quietly.

Dimitri, who had been silent through our exchange, spoke almost silently now, just to me. "What did she say?" he mouthed.

"Eddie's dead," I mime in reply, not able to trust my voice enough to talk. My man, Eddie…was dead. It didn't seem right, didn't fit. He was fine only this morning, laughing and joking, and now he was gone forever. There was something unjust about that, considering the filthy rotten careers were still alive.

Dimitri's face contorted into one of great pain for a second, until he physically forced himself to look indifferent. I could see the hurt and loss still fighting in his eyes as he readjusted his packs and turned to leave the clearing. "Should we leave?" he asked, his voice breaking almost imperceptibly.

I nodded and tucked Lissa underneath my right arm. "Let's go."

About a month passed. Two more people died. We continued to coast along, eating and sleeping, sometimes hunting. Usually the Gamemakers wouldn't leave us alone for more than a few days, which made me think there was something going on on the outside that was preventing them from being so on the ball. I wasn't complaining, whatever that thing was.

I grew closer to Lissa every day that passed, but Dimitri just grew more and more distant. He missed his Rose. I knew it must be excruciating for him, never knowing if she was dead until he saw the death toll, which he watched every night without fail. The two times in the last month the cannon had been fired, his face had paled to such an alarming white that I'd asked him if he wanted to lie down. He hardly ever spoke now, unless asked a direct question, and his eating habits had gone awry. Another fragment of life faded from his eyes every day, until he was just an automaton, with no personality or substance left to behold.

And then there were the nightmares. Every night without fail, I would watch him calling out for Rose as I sat up on my shift. He would twitch and shudder and roll until he was almost completely out of the sleeping bag. He writhed, like the pain he watched inflicted on her was pain of his own, shot through his heart. Sometimes he would scream and yell, so loud it was a wonder Lissa didn't wake. Other times, he would lie there, hissing and keening through his teeth, sweat pouring from him. It was frightening for me just to experience. I couldn't begin to wonder how I would fare if I were the one with the nightmares.

Then, when he woke up, he would act like he didn't remember—maybe he didn't, but it was unlikely. I could see the ghost of his fear shining in his eyes when he woke up to take over the guard.

I knew tonight would be no different. Lissa and I were sitting together on one of the sleeping bags, and Dimitri was lying on the other one, his gaze unfocused as he stared up at the sky.

Lissa stood up suddenly and crossed to our pile of backpacks. "I forgot to say earlier… we need to hunt." She pointed to the unusually flat pack that was supposed to hold our food.

"Think you could take us hunting, buddy?" I asked Dimitri, trying to inject some cheer into my voice.

His head moved infinitesimally, and I took it as a nod. "How's tomorrow?" he asked tonelessly, his voice hollow. I tried to meet his gaze but he turned his head, looking into the darkness of the forest beyond.

"Tomorrow's good, right, Lissa?"

She yawned. "Tomorrow's fine," she agreed. "I'm going to bed, I think."

As I moved off the sleeping bag to let her in, I turned to glance at Dimitri over my shoulder. "You can sleep now, too, man. I'll take first shift."

He just nodded. "Wake me whenever."

I waited until they were both settled before slouching comfortably against the tree, one hand resting on my flamethrower and the other on the pile of rucksacks I was guarding.

"Christian?" Lissa whispered unsurely. I peered into the darkness, searching for her familiar profile, but she was still lying down. She appeared to be facing away from me. She didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Good night."

I smiled to myself and slumped back against the tree trunk, readying myself for a long night.

At least five hours passed before anything happened. I was tying and untying knots in a length of vine when something made a noise. It was a low, unbroken hum—like a door creaking. My hand inched to my weapon as my gaze swept the clearing. A flicker of movement caught my eye, and I relaxed immediately.

Dimitri was lying sprawled on the ground, his sleeping bag tangled around his long legs. From the dim light of the lantern glowing beside me—we'd taken it from our victim earlier—I could see that his face was contorted in pain, his eyes still closed. It was starting again, I realised.

He stilled for a second, his face paling. Then he threw his hands up to protect his face in one swift movement. "Roza," he whimpered. "No." He winced and turned his head away from something in the nightmare. "No. No, no—no… no. It can't—that can't happen. No," he cried groggily, his voice choked.

I watched with sickened fascination as his back arched off the ground and he cried out before collapsing back into his sleeping bag. His breath was coming out in laboured pants and his teeth were gritted. I decided it was time to step in.

I crossed to kneel beside him and shook his shoulder urgently. He froze. "Dimitri," I whispered. "Wake up."

He stirred and opened his eyes. They were ringed in dark purple, and a light sheen of sweat covered his skin. His hands were clenched into tight fists. "You want me to take over?" he asked, voice rough. I nodded, knowing that if I spoke he would know I was lying. Dimitri either didn't remember his dream or refused to acknowledge it. Either way, I wasn't going to upset the peace.

Dimitri unzipped his sleeping bag and stood up, stretching his lean arms above his head. Without a word, he slid down the tree trunk and unsheathed his stake, which he balanced on his knees.

"Night, Dimitri," I murmured, and zipped the sleeping bag up around me.

"Night." He sounded thoughtful; I'd bet he was replaying his nightmare in his head. I tried to put myself in his shoes, and imagine what it would be like to lose Lissa and then be crippled by nightmares until I saw her again, healthy and unharmed.

Some time during my empathising, I fell asleep. Thankfully, I didn't dream.

The next morning was bright and warm: the perfect day for a hunting trip. Dimitri said nothing of our midnight exchange, so I didn't bring it up. Instead, we checked our canteens, packed up our belongings and set off on empty stomachs.

"You two should go down that way." Dimitri pointed to his right. "Lissa, pick some of those plants I showed you, and Christian, you can set up some snares. You remember them?" He raised his eyebrows as he turned to face us. We'd been following him for around two hours, into a densely forested area that was downstream from camp.

"I remember them," I confirmed, taking Lissa's arm and guiding her in the direction that Dimitri had indicated. "What are you going to do?" I asked him.

He shrugged and unsheathed his stake. "I'm going to do some fishing. You both have weapons?"

I gestured to my flamethrower, "Check," and then to Lissa's bow, "and check."

"Good. We'll meet back here in an hour or so."

Lissa and I walked away, further into the forest. I had wire looped around my belt for the snares, and she was clutching a woven burlap sack to collect plants with.

"He's in a good mood this morning," Lissa mused.

"I know. I suppose he's just glad to have something to distract him, poor guy." I shrugged and swatted a low-hanging tree branch back and let Lissa go ahead of me into yet another small clearing. This one was tiny; about twice my arm span in all directions. The strangest about it, though, was not its size.

No, the strangest thing was that we weren't alone.

A boy who looked around eighteen leaned casually against a tree, a small girl at his side. The look of malicious enjoyment on her face shocked me; she didn't look any older than thirteen.

"Vasilisa," the boy greeted as he took a step forward. It was like he'd been waiting for us.

"Victor," Lissa responded bitterly. I wanted to turn, to see her facial expression, but I didn't. I'd just noticed the gleaming long-handled dagger hanging from his belt; I wasn't taking my eyes off him. I stepped to the side, putting myself between him and Lissa. "I was wondering when I might run into you."

"How do you know him?" the young girl hissed.

Lissa's voice was coolly amused. "Your sister?"

"Of course. Now, would you like to tell my dear Natalie our story, or shall I?"

Lissa deliberated, though we all knew what her answer would be. "I'll tell it. I know you'll just glorify yourself, as usual." Lissa was nearly growling now; I was intrigued. I'd never seen her so defiant. It didn't stop me from taking another step back, pressing my body protectively against hers.

"And who is this?" Victor's eyebrows had almost disappeared beneath his hair. "An Ozera, perhaps?"

My eyes narrowed to slits. "How do you know who I am?"

Victor's mouth pulled into a smirk. "Such a shame about your parents. I know the fellow that shot them down, you know. And a good friend of mine reported them when he saw them trying to get underneath the fence."

"You bastard," I snarled.

Victor ignored me. "Vasilisa?"

"Lissa," she corrected irritably. "So, our story. Well, I met you when I was nine. You were eleven." Lissa had forgotten about everyone other than Victor; I could see it in her eyes. "You were the son of District 2's mayor, and you'd come to learn the ropes of his job. I remember admiring you for being so confident and inquisitive. Now that I know what you're really like, though…" she trailed off, and then started up again with twice as much force behind her words. "And then you took out after dinner. I didn't know what you wanted me for, but I followed you—I was stupid and naïve back then. You led me down to the basement and produced a key—the key for the door. I remember the sound of the bolt locking and your retreating footsteps—and your laugh. I heard you laughing and taunting me through the door. And then you were gone, and I was alone with only the small bottle of water that you'd been kind enough to leave with me.

Three days you left me there. Sixty four hours and forty minutes, to be exact. I never saw you again after that, not until now. I've never cared to, either. Was it just some sick joke to you? Leaving me in the basement to die while my parents were sick with worry? You're dead to me, Victor. I will never forgive you for what you did to me. You scarred me." Silence fell as Lissa finished speaking. And everyone turned to stare at her.

Me, though, I was staring at Victor. He was a monster. How could he do that to someone as sweet and harmless as Lissa?

"Scarred you?" Victor seemed genuinely amused. "How unfortunate. Because I'm about to do it again." Quicker than anyone—even Natalie—expected, he drew his dagger and made a move around me to get to Lissa, but she jumped out of the way.

"Don't you dare," I growled, guiding Lissa to stand behind me. "If you touch her…"

"Then you'll what?" Victor taunted.

I lowered my head and unsheathed the dagger at my waist. I held it up, the point facing him. My expression turned pensive. "I think you know."

"Christian," Lissa hissed. "Why are you doing this?"

"I have my reasons."

She stepped closer to me. "They'd better be good ones."

I glanced back at her over my shoulder, my face serious. "The best." I turned back to face Victor, who was grinning. I held the dagger high and circled him cautiously, my eyes never leaving his—they were green, like Lissa's, but much colder. He lunged for me, but I blocked him. Our blades scraped together as we moved apart.

"So, Christian, your reasons?" Victor appeared curious.

I bridled. "I owe you nothing."

Victor's lips pulled up into a twisted smile. "No, you don't. I know anyway, though. You love her."

I stopped. Stopped circling, stopped fighting, stopped everything. "How—?" I began. Behind me, Lissa let out a quiet gasp.

Victor laughed viciously, and Natalie joined in. "I can see right through your charade, even though you try to hide it. Too bad poor Vasilisa never noticed. It makes what I'm about to do so much harder."

"What—?" My voice trailed off into a gurgle as his dagger sunk hilt deep into my side. A blossom of fantastic pain bloomed, spreading from my torso to my head and right down to my feet. I couldn't feel my limbs; they were just numb yet agonised parts of me that seemed to have vanished from my control.

"Christian!" Lissa shrieked. It sounded like the air between us was filled with water; her voice was distant and distorted.

My vision blurred and shifted as I pitched forward onto my knees. My head felt like it was being pulled toward the ground by an invisible cord, and I didn't resist it. My face hit the grass and I rolled over onto my back, hissing in pain as I clutched at my side, where the dagger was still buried. I wrenched it out and threw it to the ground in disgust, my actions weak and uncoordinated.

I looked at everyone in the clearing. When my eyes fell on Lissa—a hunched, sobbing teenage girl with filthy blonde hair and stained, rumpled clothes—I knew there was something I had to say.

She glanced up, as if she'd heard my thoughts. "Run," I choked. My side throbbed. "Run away."

One slow second passed. In that second, Lissa turned and, with one last agonised glance in my direction, she ran. Natalie grimaced and sprinted after her at Victor's command. He turned to stare at me like I was a specimen under a microscope, and I drew one step closer to passing out.

Victor paced in a slow circle around me, his hands laced together behind his back. He had dark hair that wasn't quite black—like Rose's, but slightly darker. It hung in his eyes as he stared down at me. His face held a sick sort of sympathy that made me want to hit him, but obviously I couldn't.

I knew I was dying. Surprisingly, this fact didn't scare me, or stress me out. I felt calm, serene. But maybe that was because my death didn't feel like actually dying. I didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel or have my life flash before my eyes. My mind felt blank, numb. It wasn't all that bad a feeling.

This is a good way to die, I thought. No pain.

I couldn't feel my body any more, just a pinprick of pain in my torso. I took one hand away from my wound to push my hair out of my eyes—I would look my killer straight in the eye when he finished off the job. A flash of red flew across my vision. I brought my hand closer to my face to find it almost entirely stained with blood. Intrigued—and disgusted by my clinical interest—I brought my hand down to rest on the ground, the grass tickling my fingers.

"I honestly didn't think you'd stay conscious for this long," Victor mused, picking up his dagger and staring down the blade at me. "Time to finish you off, I suppose. Goodbye, Christian Ozera. It has been…" he groped for the right word, "a pleasure."

I snarled weakly in response. With one last malicious smile, Victor pocketed his dagger. I knew that the time had come for me to die.

He lifted his foot and rested it lightly on my knee. I had no idea what he was doing until his leg rose up, and his boot came down full force. We both heard the melody of sharp cracks as my leg bent back at an irregular angle. I cried out through my teeth as tears of sheer pain sprang in my eyes. I'd never felt anything so painful in my life.

I still didn't pass out, though I knew it would only mean more pain. Victor sighed in frustration and brought his foot down again. More snaps. My leg was completely shattered now, but I still didn't let my consciousness go—despite the fact that it was hanging on by a thread.

"You bring this on yourself, you know," Victor informed me. I chuckled bitterly and spat blood into the grass.

With a casual shrug, he pulled his dagger out and thrust it deep into the soft skin of my thigh—the one that wasn't shattered. I screamed as he twisted the blade, the serrated edge slashing viciously through the tissue.

So much pain—razor-sharp and unbearable. I screamed again and writhed in agony as he pushed the knife deeper.

And then it disappeared completely. All of it: the pain, the blood, the dagger, Victor… the world changed. Now I was in a blank white space—like lying on a vast sheet of paper. On that paper, I imagined one word was written: Lissa.

RPOV

It felt like I was being followed. Odd footfalls, twigs breaking, voices—maybe I was going crazy.

Considering all the terrible things going on in my life, going crazy wouldn't really be a very significant addition to the list.

I was alone. Mason had left one day and not come back, Dimitri had been separated from me since the day of the fire, and the rest of the group were probably hiding away somewhere—maybe Dimitri was with them. I didn't know.

I hadn't seen him in about a month. It felt like years since I'd accidentally fallen asleep in his arms and had Eddie and Mason trying to get me to admit that I had a crush on him. I missed them all so much, especially Dimitri. I'd learned to be a little more open-minded concerning him after spending so much time away from him. I tried not to think of him as a brother figure any more; now he was more of a close friend with boyfriend potential. I'd faced up to the facts: there was a good chance he liked me, and I definitely loved him. I just wasn't sure of what way.

I wished he was here with me, walking annoyingly quietly beside me with his stake gripped casually in one hand and—

I stopped thinking about him, then, because I could feel a dull ache behind my eyes—a sign that I was going to cry. I'd fought off the urge a lot recently; I put it down to loneliness, stress, and lack of sleep.

I steered my thoughts back to the forest beyond. I didn't know where I was going, exactly, just away. I hoped I would run into Christian, Lissa, Mason or Dimitri, but there was a very slim chance of that happening.

The cannon exploded with a sharp crack, cutting through the still air like a scalpel through plastic. The hovercraft appeared in the sky about a mile from me and picked up a limp body with bloody clothes and a shock of black hair.

Christian.

Before the hovercraft had even begun to move, I was off, running faster that I ever could've believed. It had taken me a mere second to think this turn of events through.

Wherever Christian was, Lissa would be, too. And where Lissa was… maybe Dimitri was with her. But if Christian had just died, then something was obviously very, very wrong.

I was grateful for all those days spent in the gym with Dimitri now. I ran like a well-oiled machine, my legs pumping like pistons as I flew through the forest. As I drew closer, more sounds started to register with me. A high-pitched cackling and someone crying desperately for help. Lissa. I picked up the pace, only to realise that I could hear footsteps, too, but much closer to me.

I swerved around another tree and laid eyes on a boy about three metres away, who was creeping stealthily through the forest with his back to me. I ran up behind him noiselessly and sprang at him, knocking him to the ground. He gasped, but didn't speak.

"Did you, or did you not, kill Christian Ozera?" I growled viciously. My lips were just above his ear. He shivered, and I don't think it was from the cold.

"And who do I have the pleasure of speaking to? It's not you, is it, Rose Hathaway?" His tone was mild and friendly. My hand inched toward my stake.

"How charming. Now, I'll ask again, and this is the last time._ Did you, or did you not, kill Christian Ozera_?" I spat. My voice was as cold and sharp as a shard of ice.

"I did," he replied cheerfully. "With great pleasure."

"You sick bastard," I half-yelled, and thrust my stake into his back. He convulsed spasmodically before falling still. I was already on my feet and running when the cannon exploded.

Lissa's cries were much closer now; I slowed to a silent jog as I neared the sound of her voice.

I broke through the trees into a small riverside clearing and found Lissa sprawled on the grass, a shaking hand clutching her blood-soaked stomach. A broken arrow lay beside her.

"Liss," I murmured with relief as I sunk down beside her. "God, Lissa, what happened?"

She turned to stare at me, an urgent worry in her eyes. She took my hand and squeezed it tightly. "She's here, Rose. She's still here. I'm bait. She was—" she gasped in pain, "She was—trying to get Dimitri, but… she didn't know you were here. You have to leave, Rose."

I threw down my bow and arrows, keeping only my stake as I lay down with her. "Lissa, it's fine. We're fine. She's gone, and I killed the man," I told her grimly, keeping her hand tight in mine.

Lissa sat up slowly as a massive coughing fit racked her thin body. I rubbed circles into her back as she shook. When her hand came away from her mouth, it was speckled with red—her blood. "She's—" she drew in a painful breath, "She punctured my lung." Lissa didn't sound scared or angry… just calm, like she was discussing the weather.

"Lissa, you're going to pull through this. Do you hear me? You're going to be okay," I encouraged her, my voice choking up. I was saying it as much for myself as I was for her; I definitely needed the convincing. I pulled her head into my lap and stroked her hair affectionately.

"I love you, Rose," Lissa whispered. "You're my best friend. It sounds," she spluttered another cough, "Silly, but—"

"It doesn't. Not at all. I love you, too, Liss. I really do. I just wish we hadn't had to meet like this." I sighed.

Lissa was overtaken by another spasm of coughing. Her mouth was stained red with her blood. My throat constricted painfully. I'd known her for around five weeks, and already, she was the best friend I'd ever had. And now I was going to lose her. I could feel my heart tearing itself apart in my chest.

"Rose," Lissa whimpered, gasping as her fingers clawed uselessly at her chest. Her face was flushed and her hair was sticking in pale clumps to her forehead with sweat. Her face had drained to an alarming shade of chalky white. "Rose," she tried again, eyes wild, "Tell Christian… he needs to know—tell him that I love him. I should've told him before." Her quiet wheezing grew louder and faster suddenly, her face strained. She turned her head away weakly.

"I knew it," I whispered, a small, sad smile pulling at my lips. The clearing had fallen oddly silent. "He loves you, too, you know. We knew the moment we saw the two of you." She didn't answer. I shook her shoulder gently, but found that her body had gone limp. She was gone. I kissed her forehead, tears burning behind my eyes, and stood up.

Before I left the clearing, I turned back with the first three fingers of my right hand raised in an odd salute. I brought the hand to my lips and held it back out to Lissa in an old show of respect that hardly anyone used any more.

I walked away as the cannon fired and moved shakily so that the hovercraft could take her. I let out a small sob as her body was lifted into the air, her pale hair shining in the washed-out sunlight.

I had to find who'd killed her. It wasn't the boy I'd stabbed; Lissa had said 'She's still here.' _Let's hope she is_, I thought.

I half-ran back to the clearing to find that my bow had vanished. I cursed and swept the tree line with my eyes. About half way around, someone's boot was sticking out, but I could see that there was just a boot, no leg.

"Did you really think I would fall for that?" I called.

"You just did," a girl answered, and pounced. I fell forward but used my momentum to roll over onto my knees. I stood up quickly and drew my stake, but boy, was she fast. A long, bone-handled dagger had appeared in her hand, its blade around seven inches long with a shiny, razor-sharp edge.

I jumped out of the way as she ran at me, dagger raised high. It slashed through the air with a sharp hissing noise. I looped my arm around hers and plunged my stake deep into her shoulder, cutting off the nerves in her left arm—too bad it hadn't been her dagger arm. She screamed and raised her knife with a look that could only be described as crazed.

"You bitch," she spat, and slashed down, raking a deep gash across my stomach before I could move out of the way. A sharp lance of pain shot across my skin. I hissed through my teeth, vowing not to scream in front of the tiny girl grinning up at me. The sick amusement in her eyes shocked me; she only looked about twelve.

I brought my stake up and slashed it down repeatedly, not looking at where exactly I was cutting. I just needed her to lose enough blood that she would pass out. But then, didn't I want to kill her? She murdered sweet, defenceless Lissa in cold blood; she deserved to be punished.

The girl cried out, a grating, high-pitched sound. A pattern of mismatched scratches bled through the material of her shirt. The effect was pretty grotesque. She hardly seemed to notice, though, and moved toward me again. I clutched at my wound and stepped back, out of her reach.

Faster than I thought she could move, she rammed into me elbow first and I fell back, clutching my throbbing stomach. She straddled me and knocked my stake out of my hand. It skittered across the grass noiselessly, too far for either of us to recover it. I cursed and tried to knock the girl off me, but she didn't budge. Her dagger appeared at my throat, and I froze. I couldn't help but wish Dimitri were here; he'd know how to handle the situation.

A few seconds later: "Lissa! Christian? Where are you?" someone yelled frantically from a good distance away. Someone who sounded exactly like Dimitri.

_It's a trick_, I thought miserably. _The chances of him being here are zero_

The girl didn't seem to have the same line of reasoning. She bridled and pushed the blade deeper into my neck, creating a small trickle of blood that ran down my collar bone. I gritted my teeth but didn't cry out.

"I'll enjoy killing you," the girl told me. "Just like I enjoyed killing Vasilisa."

I screamed with rage and balled my fists. Before she could comprehend what I was going to do, I let my hand go and punched her hard in the face, breaking her nose with a staccato crack.

"You shouldn't have done that," she hissed, and pushed the dagger deeper. A small gash now ran from the side of my neck to my collarbone. She grinned maliciously and stood up. I didn't know what she was going to do until she brought her boot down hard on my left wrist. Thankfully, my right one had been on my stomach. I tried to move my hand, but something was definitely broken.

In the next second, a lot happened. Someone tore through the trees, all guns blazing. Before I could see who it was, the girl had pulled my bow from her back and shot an arrow straight at the person's heart. I screamed, having just realised that it was Dimitri standing at the edge of the clearing. The girl whirled and collapsed beside me, and I just about saw the hilt of her blade slamming hard into my temple before I saw nothing.

As my vision faded, I wondered if this was what it was like to die.

* * *

><p><strong>NOOOOOO :'( I LOVE CHRISTIAN... im not too fond of Lissa, but i still miss her too.. :P<strong>

**anyway, I wanted to let you guys know (because i think it's kind of exciting) that I've planned right up until the end of the Games, I've written until the end of chapter 12 written out by hand, and up to the middle of 11 on my laptop! expect an ud soon!**

**The plotline for the next while is pretty action packed, so i apologise if it all goes too quickly and i screw the whole thing up... let's hope i dont!**

**Now, I have a challenge for you. There's a new character coming into the story in chapter 10... they're known for being kind of manipulative. They were in VA, and anyone who can tell me correctly who the person is gets a preview of the next chapter! :D (Had to change this-it was too easy!)**

**Oh, and please tell me what you think, too. I dont know if this story's going too fast or not :/**

**Annie**


	10. Predicament

CHAPTER 11 – PREDICAMENT

DPOV

Running. Not running away from danger, like I usually was. No, running toward it.

Lissa and Christian were in danger. I'd seen the hovercraft collect three bodies in the last few minutes, but the glare of the sun had prevented me from seeing who they were. The first time I'd heard the cannon, I just froze at the riverbank. The second time, I ran. The third hovercraft had just disappeared, and I'd almost covered the mile or so Christian and Lissa had travelled when hunting. Now I just needed to pinpoint their exact location.

I strained to hear anything unusual in the quiet forest; I could've sworn I heard voices to the west. I ran in that direction, my heart pounding. There was a very good chance that either Lissa or Christian was dead. But not both. I couldn't lose the two of them after already losing Rose. No man could handle that.

A strangled cry of rage emitted from the trees, and I stopped running with a jolt. Rose was there. Rose. Roza. She was alright.

But she soon wouldn't be.

I doubled my speed as I tore through the forest, swerving trees and low branches that were nothing more than blurs to me. All my weariness was forgotten, my wounds insignificant. The only thing that registered with me now was the burning need I held to save Rose, because surely if she died, a part of me would die, too.

I didn't try to be stealthy or quiet; Rose's life was too important for that. I burst into a small riverside clearing with all the subtlety of an elephant, and stopped dead. Rose was lying, bloodied and broken, on the ground. I was intensely relieved to see that she was still conscious, though, if only barely.

A tiny, dark-haired girl stood over her, her clothes torn and stained red. As I watched, she pulled a bow from her back—Lissa's bow—and fired an arrow at me with expert aim. That snapped me out of my haze. If I died, then I couldn't save Rose, and she would die, too.

I dived sideways, but I wasn't fast enough. The arrow sunk in my right arm, just below my shoulder.

Rose was screaming. The girl knelt beside her and knocked her out with the hilt of her dagger, hard enough that she would be unconscious for five or six hours, at least.

I saw red and yelled in outrage before yanking the arrow from my arm and crossing the clearing in three long strides. The girl stood at about four foot twelve, tiny compared to my six seven. She stared up at me, and for the first time, she looked scared. My left hand shot out and gripped her bow tightly. I pulled it out of her grasp and launched it across the clearing. The girl's lower lip trembled. I guess my face was something to see.

I drew my stake, and she her dagger. Some of her bravado was starting to creep back into her expression. I circled her predatorily and made a jab at her hip. My stake glanced off her side, slicing a long gash into her skin. She screamed and ran at me with her knife aimed for my chest. I blocked her hit, but didn't expect her next move. She spun underneath my arm and slashed her blade across my thigh. I hissed through my teeth and readied my stake to finish her off. She was in for a surprise when she finished her spin. When her momentum brought her back to face me, I thrust my stake deep into her chest. She gurgled and coughed blood before dropping to the ground. I was already kneeling by Rose's side when the cannon fired.

"Rose," I murmured, touching her face gently. She didn't stir. The only reassurance I had that she was still alive was the slight rise and fall of her chest. Her head was badly wounded and bleeding heavily. I stripped off my jacket, but quickly threw it aside—its waterproof material would be useless for quelling the steady flow of blood dripping from Rose's temple. Sighing, I shrugged off my shirt and let it drop to the ground as I reached for my jacket to zip it back on.

I pressed my filthy shirt to Rose's head gingerly, watching with increasing worry as the material quickly turned crimson. I knew I had to get Rose to safety, and fast. An image of the first-aid kit in one of the rucksacks we'd left stashed near the cave flashed behind my eyes. I ripped both of the sleeves off my shirt and pressed one to Rose's wound before shrugging on the now vest and zipping the jacket back up. I lifted her limp body in my arms and held her to my chest for a second before starting the long walk back to the cave, barely aware of the hovercraft picking up the body I'd left behind.

Rose was still bleeding when we reached the precariously stacked rocks that hid the rucksacks. Both of my sleeves were completely soaked with blood by the time I had laid her on the ground to look for the first aid kit.

I searched through every pack once, twice, then three times, but it was nowhere to be seen.

And then I remembered where it was with a somewhat sickening jolt. Christian's pack.

He'd taken it with him in case one of us needed it, but we hadn't. So now it was sitting in his pack, and I didn't know where he was—or if he was even alive.

I stuffed everything from the packs into my bag and turned to pick up Rose, my back already aching from the heavy load of weapons and such in my rucksack.

I knew, as I left the cave, where I was going. The river wasn't far, and I needed to clean both myself and Rose up. I was sure that, if I tried to travel further than that, I wouldn't make it. Between carrying Rose with an injured arm and having such a heavy pack, I would probably keel over with exhaustion before I got anywhere. As it was, my steps were slowing, my head was pounding and my breathing was ragged and strained—and I was only half way there. Sweat clung to my clothes, making me feel grimy and in need of a wash. This made me walk slightly faster. That, and the bleeding, unconscious girl in my arms.

I almost collapsed with relief when the clear, glittering water of the stream came into view. I laid Rose gently on the sandy bank and shrugged off my pack before gathering up our water canteens and filling them one by one. I dripped iodine into them and left them on a rock to purify.

After checking that Rose's breathing was still stable, I stripped off my clothes and tried as best I could to scrub the filth and blood out of them. I knew they would be much cleaner if I had soap, but I didn't, so I left the soaking clothes on the rocks to dry and got to work on washing the grime from my hair and skin.

I had scrubbed myself raw by the time I was finished. My skin tingled—I wasn't sure if the feeling was good or bad. I shook out my dripping wet hair and turned to Rose, who was still lying peacefully on the bank, her eyes closed.

I had to think about how to get her into the river without drowning her in the process. I finally decided to lay her down on one of the rock shelves on the bank. That way, her body would be half submerged, but her head would still be above the surface of the water.

With a half reluctant sigh, I gently pried Rose's jacket and shirt off and threw them into the river, where they landed with a wet slapping sound. As I climbed back in to wash them I tried to keep my eyes off the long gash that snaked from the right side of her rib cage to her left hip.

Rose's clothes were so ruined I had to cut off a large section of her shirt where it had been burned black and then ripped horizontally where she'd been injured by the dagger earlier. The shirt would come to the bottom of her ribcage now, but her jacket was still fully intact. I did my best to clean them, but there were still spatters of dried blood on the hem of her shirt.

I left the clothes to dry alongside mine on the rocks and decided to get to work on cleaning Rose's wounds. Her trousers looked moderately clean, so I'd decided not to wash them. Rose could do that herself when she woke up, should she so want to.

_When_ she woke, not _if_.

I pulled on my own trousers—which were almost, but not quite—dry. My jacket was still sopping wet, so I left it where it was. I balled up my shirt and dipped it into the cool river. The material absorbed the water like a sponge, and I set to work washing the layers of blood, dirt and grime from Rose's skin.

She never stirred as I worked over her. With a heavy heart, I pulled her shirt back over her head and zipped her jacket on. After washing my own shirt, I left it over Rose's wound and slipped on my damp jacket.

It was evening now, almost time for the death toll. I felt like I should be doing something… say, fixing dinner, but I'd only managed to catch three fish today during our interrupted hunting trip. I would save the food until there was more than just me eating it.

While I waited for the anthem to start, I rolled out the two sleeping bags and zipped Rose into one. Now, without the bloodstains and the filthy clothes, she almost appeared to be sleeping peacefully. I stared at her, willing her to wake up. Willing her to laugh and call me Comrade. Willing her to impress me with some other amazing skill she had. Willing her to do something, anything at all, to assure me that she was going to wake up.

With a sigh that seemed to hold all the sorrows of the world, I stretched myself out on the sleeping bag beside Rose's. My feet hung off the edge slightly, but right now I didn't care.

The Capitol seal had just appeared in the sky.

My heart was pounding as the boy from District 2's picture materialised, and quickly faded into what had to be a picture of his sister. They had the same dark hair, green eyes and angular features.

I held my breath as the young girl's picture disappeared, knowing that I had killed her. It was quickly replaced by one of Christian. Before my shock could even properly register, Lissa's face appeared in the sky. The seal abruptly replaced it, and silence fell.

I stared at the sky for a long time, long after the death toll had finished. My mind couldn't swallow the fact that Lissa and Christian were both dead. The same two I'd seen this morning, healthy and happy. It didn't seem right that two good, honest people such as them had to die. I knew that I would miss them terribly, even after the Games were over. They were true friends to me—and Rose.

I hung my head, as though the weight of my pain was pulling it toward the ground. I knew the cameras were on me, and I didn't want them to see the few soundless tears tracking down my cheeks.

How could life get much worse? Three people that I considered to be close friends had died, one was missing and the girl I loved was lying half dead beside me. And to make matters that little bit worse, she didn't even know about my feelings for her, let alone reciprocate them. I'd seen the way she looked at me—like I was a close friend, or a brother… but never anyone she could _love_. It was the worst feeling I'd ever experienced, and to top my whole miserable life off, I had no food, I was dehydrated and I hadn't slept well for a month.

The only thing that could happen now that could possibly make things worse was if someone killed me. Or would that be a good thing?

The sound of trumpets knocked me out of my reverie with a jolt. I jerked my head up just as Cladius Templesmith's cheerful voice boomed around the arena.

"Hello, tributes. This is Claudius Templesmith." I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but he sounded slightly uneasy. "I would like to cordially invite you to a feast at dusk the day after tomorrow."

I sighed and turned away. I didn't want some pointless feast. Food was no problem for me. I could go hunting tomorrow and stock up. My head fell back into my hands in despair.

"Wait," Claudius chimed, as though he were watching me. "All of you need something, whether that be food, weapons or medicine. What if I told you that this feast held the items you so desperately need?

"Each of you will find a back pack, marked with your district's number, at the Cornucopia at dusk. Think hard about attending; for some of you, it's the difference between life and death."

And that was it. I struggled to understand what we 'so desperately needed.' I had no issue hunting for food, we had enough weaponry to arm all of District 12, and I wasn't under the impression that any of our wounds were fatal.

I settled down in my sleeping bag and pulled it up to my chin, and cast one last glance at Rose with the firm resolution that I would not go to the feast—because I didn't need to, and would probably end up killed, which would leave Rose alone.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, relying entirely on my hearing to wake me up if something happened.

I didn't dream for most of the night; I slept fitfully, checking Rose's pulse every few hours. Then, in the early hours, I fell into a deep sleep.

"Dimitri!" someone cried excitedly, though their voice was edged with weariness. I knew immediately who it was.

"Rose!" I exclaimed, and opened my eyes. My heart sank. I was dreaming. We were no longer in the clearing near the river; we were in the middle of a crop of pine trees, too vivid a green to be real. Rose was leaning over me, her hair clean and wavy like it had been before the Games. Her face was free from scars and cuts, and she was clad in an emerald green tunic and white trousers.

I was definitely dreaming.

"I've missed you," Rose whispered, tracing my face with her fingers.

"Rose," I murmured. "Oh, Rose. I didn't know what to do. You were just lying there and—and—I thought I'd lost you…" This was a dream; I could say that, couldn't I? No-one could hear me. "Listen, I should've told you before—"

Suddenly warm, soft lips were on mine. My eyes widened in surprise, and then the world began to shake. I looked around at the trees, which were crumbling, blackened, out of my sight. Rose disappeared like sand through my fingers.

"Dimitri!" I opened my eyes a second time to find myself back by the river, wrapped in my sleeping bag. Echoing my dream, a very familiar figure hung over me, her hair tangled and tumbling in thick tendrils around her face, and her forehead bruised and bloodied. Her mouth and left cheek were swollen, and dark rings hung under her eyes.

Yet I'd never seen anyone so beautiful.

"Dimitri!" Rose cried again, her eyes bright with excitement—eyes I hadn't seen for a month. I kicked off my sleeping bag and pulled her into my arms with a shocked, yet completely ecstatic laugh.

"Roza," I murmured, my hands in her hair. "My Roza. Never, _ever_ scare me like that again." My hands ran lightly over her face, feeling the familiar lines, reassuring myself that she was real.

"I won't." She grinned but her face soon turned serious. "Oh Dimitri, I missed you so much," she whispered, resting her head on my chest. I stroked her hair gently, still scarcely able to believe that she was alive in my arms.

"I—" _Say it_, I urged myself. "I—" _I love you!_ I encouraged. "Ya tebya lyublyu," I said finally, a wave of sadness crashing through my voice. Why couldn't I just say what I really wanted to say? I supposed rejection on live TV in front of the entire country was kind of daunting.

"What did you say?" she asked lightly, with evident curiosity. She shifted closer to me and my hold on her tightened. I winced as a sharp lance of pain shot through my arm.

"It means…" I hesitated, but she didn't notice. "'I miss you,' in Russian." I couldn't tell her that it really meant I love you, and I miss you was the next best thing.

Rose broke from my hold suddenly and jumped up, but stumbled and fell to her knees with a hand pressed to her temple. She frowned. "Dimitri, a parachute fell onto your bed this morning. I didn't want to touch it, because it's obviously for you, so…" she trailed off and gestured to the gleaming silver parachute lying neatly at the bottom of my sleeping bag. I ignored it and hurried to kneel by her side.

Seeing my worried expression, Rose waved me off. "I'm fine. Just a little light-headed." I watched with scepticism as she dropped her hand from her head to find it sticky with blood. "Oh."

I gathered my bloody shirt in my hand and dampened it in the river before crawling back to Rose's side. I pressed it lightly to her forehead, dabbing the blood. I instructed her to hold it while I inspected the parachute.

"What is this?" she asked, no doubt seeing the snatches of the pale green colour it had once been. She unfolded it and let out a small gasp. "Your shirt?" It didn't even look like a shirt any more; the sleeves were gone, leaving ragged, rough holes in their place. Almost the entire surface was bloody, giving it the impression of actually being red. It had also been smudged with ash, and still held tiny particles of quicksand.

It looked more like an old rag than a shirt.

"You ruined your shirt for me?" Rose seemed almost touched by the gesture.

I detached the parachute from the square black box underneath it and spoke without turning. "I'd ruin much more than my shirt for you."

A beat of silence passed. I immediately felt stupid for saying something so corny—even if it was true. "I would for you, too," Rose agreed finally. I smiled to myself and opened the box.

"Adrian, I never thought I'd say this, but I think I love you," I half-yelled, and brought the box over to Rose, who was looking on in confusion. The penny dropped when she saw the contents of the unassuming little box.

It was a hand-packed first aid kit. Nestled inside were headache tablets, pills to reduce temperature, a small pot of off-white cream and enough bandages to wrap all our wounds and then some.

"Thanks, Adrian!" Rose cried to the sky, grinning. I took her arm and guided her to the riverbank. I threw my shirt into the cool spring and scrubbed it for the second time. After beating it clean between two rocks, I left it to dry on the bank.

I folded one of the bandages and dampened it before asking Rose to take off her jacket. She complied obediently. It was the smell that hit me first: the rancid, acid stench of rotting skin and infection. Then I saw the gash itself. The skin around it had turned a dead whitish colour, and was caked in dried blood. The edges of the gash were starting to turn an inky blackish green, and pus filled the wound. Spidery veins that almost seemed to protrude from her skin reached across her stomach in all directions.

I realised two things then. One, I knew what I desperately needed from Claudius. Two, I wasn't missing that feast for the world.

"Ouch," Rose whispered, somewhat inadequately, her eyes wide with shock.

I ignored her comment and dabbed at the edges of the gash with the wet bandages. Rose cried out, but it seemed to be helping—if only slightly. I reached for the pot of cream in the first-aid kit and held it up. "Do you know what this is?"

She shook her head. "It can't hurt, though, can it? It was in a first aid kit, after all."

I shrugged. "I suppose." When I opened the pot, I realised that it was more of a gel than a cream. I smeared some around the edges of the gash and watched as Rose's eyes closed.

"It feels cool," she reported.

"Burn cream?" I guessed.

She nodded. I rubbed the gel onto her other wounds—she had a pattern of burns running up the backs of her legs and on her shoulders—and carefully placed it back in the box. I took the bandages out next and instructed Rose to stand.

"Hold this." I passed her the edge of the bandage and got to work on wrapping it around her stomach. Her wound felt so much more manageable now that it was hidden behind clean cotton—cowardly as that may sound. I wrapped another bandage around her head and tied it beneath her hair. "Any other injuries I should know about?"

Rose glanced down and lifted her limp left hand with her right. "She stood on my wrist." She looked almost sympathetic, like she knew broken bones were completely out of her depth.

I held up a hand and searched. Two twigs about four inches long caught my eye, and I snatched them up. I placed one on either side of Rose's hand and bandaged her wrist and, as an afterthought, her palm, too. She tried to move her wrist back and forth, but couldn't. I'd created a brace—though it was crude.

"Smart," she commented, and dropped her hand. I waved her off and zipped my jacket down. Burns littered my chest, and there was a deep puncture mark in my arm from getting shot with the arrow. I started to treat myself, and silence fell between us. We both left the other to their thoughts.

An hour or so later, I was completely bandaged up bar the gash on my thigh. "I wish I hadn't said all those things to you now," Rose murmured, her tone thoughtful. I didn't look up from my leg, though I knew exactly what she was referring to, and the particular topic of conversation startled me.

"Oh? What things?" I asked nonchalantly, reaching for the bandages without meeting her eyes.

"When I was fourteen. And I…" I could picture how she would avert her eyes after saying this. I'm sorry, too," I replied. She remained silent. "For calling you a spoiled, self-centred—"

"You shouldn't be apologising to me. What you said to me was true. It made me think about whether I really wanted to be like that… and I didn't. You helped me by saying those things. I just upset you."

I frowned thoughtfully. "You know, there have been two thoughts that have plagued me since that day."

"Let me guess," Rose began, running her fingers across the bandage on her stomach pensively. "Why did I do it, and was what I said true." She raised her eyebrows.

I could only nod. I had been wondering about this for three years.

"No, nothing I said was true. Not even slightly. And I did it—I didn't it because I liked you and I was jealous." She let out a deep breath.

Whoa. I was not expecting that, not at all. "I don't—understand."

Rose turned away from me to stare at the river. "I had a… crush on you back then," I winced at the emphasis she put on the last two words, "and being the precious bitch I was, I began to resent you because I couldn't have you. I wanted to hit you hard—make you think the women in your life weren't as perfect as you thought. I fabricated that story so that you could feel even a little bit of the pain I did. But then you took me down a few pegs, and I hated you for it. And I have ever since. Well, until now."

"That makes a lot of sense, actually." I still hadn't looked up from my bandage, which I'd just finished wrapping. I pulled my trousers back on and took a breath, wondering what I should say.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, meeting my eyes. Hers were full of sorrow.

I shuffled closer on my knees and collapsed beside her, putting my arms around her.

"What's your mother's name?" she asked suddenly. "And your sisters?"

"Olena," I answered, confused. "And Sonya and Karolina and Viktoria."

She smiled. "I remember them. You mother was always so nice to me." She tilted her head up suddenly. "I'm sorry for being so nasty, Olena. And Sonya and Karolina, I'm sorry for what I said about you. And Viktoria, I'm especially sorry for saying those things while you were listening. I shouldn't have done that, and I hope you'll all forgive me… if you can even hear me."

I grinned. "Charming."

"I'm being serious, you jerk." She laughed and punched my shoulder.

"You know… I, um—no, never mind," I stuttered.

"What is it?" Rose questioned with a curious frown.

"Nothing."

"Nothing is always something. Tell me."

"I, uh, used to like you, too… back then," I added hastily. My eyes were fixed on the ground as I spoke. I couldn't look at her.

"You liked me… back then?" Rose seemed as surprised by this fact as I was that I'd actually managed to say it.

I nodded. Almost as if there was some secret signal, our faces began to move closer and closer until our noses were almost touching. It was going to happen, finally. This whole convoluted situation with Rose was finally going to work out.

"Roza, I think I l—"

A twig snapped about a metre away from us, just beyond the tree line. We sprang apart and grabbed our stakes. I held up a hand for Rose to wait and dragged someone, kicking and swearing, out of a nearby bush.

"And you are?" I raised my eyebrows quizzically.

The girl looked between the two of us. "I'm Avery. From District 3. You're—I mean, you're Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov. Wow. I didn't think I would actually find you," the girl, Avery, stammered.

"So you're saying you want to ally with us?" Rose asked coldly. I was shocked by her tone. The girl seemed harmless enough.

Avery's eyes widened, as though allying with us was more than she dared to hope for. "If you'll have me."

"Alright," I agreed. I didn't particularly feel like we needed an ally, but I needed someone to look after Rose while I was at the feast.

Rose shot me a look that seemed to question my sanity. I waved her off, knowing I couldn't tell her my motives.

"But if you defy our trust…" I continued, trailing off suggestively. Avery began to quiver.

"I won't," she squeaked.

Rose stalked off after that, half-heartedly mumbling something about an early night. I could see from where I was sitting on the bank, though, that she wasn't asleep.

Avery eventually came and sat down with me. The sun was just going down, its reflection glowing red over in the water. I watched it impassively, my mind on other things.

"Listen, Dimitri," Avery began, her voice as smooth as velvet. I didn't like the way she said my name; it sounded too personal, like she'd known me for years. "I've seen how you and Rose act around each other. You do know she doesn't love you, don't you? She never has… and probably never will." Her voice was soft, like she was concerned for me, but I bridled.

"She—"

"I, on the other hand…" Avery trailed off, leaning closer to me. "Ever since the opening ceremony, I haven't been able to get you off my mind."

And then she was kissing me. It was just how I'd always imagined it would be with Rose—except it felt all wrong. I inched backward, but Avery just moved with me. Finally, I pushed her back forcefully. "Avery, I think I've made my feelings for Rose very clear," I told her firmly, keeping her at arm's length.

"You shouldn't care for her, Dimitri. Care for me." She leapt out of my hold and tried to kiss me again, her expression one of desperation.

"Avery, Rose is right there!" I cried incredulously as she locked her lips to mine again.

"Can you guys keep it down? Some of us are trying to sleep," Rose called, her voice completely devoid of emotion. I jerked away from Avery and turned to look at Rose. She was sitting up in her sleeping bag, her expression impassive. Her lips were pressed into a tight white line, but her tired eyes betrayed all the hurt she was feeling—which was a lot. I winced involuntarily.

"Rose—"

"Trying to sleep," she repeated and lay back down, hiding her face from me.

I turned to Avery indifferently. "Go to bed. I'm taking first shift."

"Night." She grinned and tried for another kiss. I gripped her shoulder—hard enough to make her gasp—and physically steered her to the other sleeping bag.

"Do not test my patience," I growled slowly, gritting my teeth to refrain from doing something rash.

She stayed silent after that and curled up in the sleeping bag obediently. Still seething, I leaned against the trunk of a tree and drew patterns into the ground with my stake.

This was quite the predicament. I couldn't tell Avery to leave, because she'd probably try to kill us if our alliance was broken, but I couldn't let her stay because she was trying to turn Rose against me. I couldn't leave her with Rose tomorrow, because she'd most likely wind her up, but I couldn't bring Avery with me because then Rose would be alone all day. Yet I couldn't not go to the feast because then her condition would only get worse. This whole thing was my fault.

I'd dug us into a hole that could only get deeper, and I didn't know how to get out.

A few hours later, I stirred and opened my eyes. I must've been asleep. Guiltily, I searched the clearing for danger and was alerted to a soft, rhythmic panting of sorts.

Rose's body was shaking in time to the sound. I knelt by her head, expecting to find her crying, but couldn't see the telltale sheen of tears on her cheeks. I realised with a jolt that I'd heard heavy, laboured breathing… she was fuming.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I whispered gently, running a tentative hand through her hair, which was fanned around her face.

"I don't want to speak to you, _Dimitri_." She spat my name like it was a curse, and turned her head away. My hand froze as I recoiled in shock, and eventually fell back to my side. I sat back on my heels and, after a few seconds, collapsed into a sitting position, my legs folded awkwardly.

I knew she hated Avery, and she was probably mad at me, but it seemed Avery had turned her against me completely.

"Rose." No answer. "Rose, I don't care if you aren't speaking to me. You need to know that I didn't instigate that kiss; it was all Avery. She's trying to pit us against each other, and I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let her. And I'm sorry if you thought I wanted to kiss her."

A few minutes passed with no answer. I felt like crying myself now, but I affected an air of indifference and rolled onto my knees, preparing to stand.

"Dimitri," Rose whispered. "You need to sleep." I stopped in my tracks and turned back to the sound of her voice.

"I'm fine," I argued.

Rose sat up, and I caught a gleam of white as she grinned. She unzipped her sleeping bag and beckoned me over. "Come on. One of us will surely wake up if something happens."

"I'm not so sure," I murmured in response, casting Avery an anxious glance. Who knew what she'd do if we both slept?

"Come on. We'll show her who's boss." Rose kicked off her boots and socks and left them beside the sleeping bag. I did the same reluctantly—though not really reluctantly at all, when I thought about it—and hung my jacket from a tree branch before lying down beside her and fastening the zip. The sleeping bag was only made for one person; we were pressed pretty close together. Every part of us seemed to be touching: our legs and chests especially, and our faces were inches apart. Rose tucked her head underneath my chin and laid her hands on my chest, and let me wrap my arms around her until I was almost cradling her to me. We fell asleep like that, wrapped in the other's embrace for the first time in a month.

"You really can't decide which of us you want, can you?"

I opened my eyes groggily to find Avery standing at the foot of the sleeping bag, hands on hips. She was shorter that I'd originally thought: about five four or five five. Her head of poker straight black hair was matted and messy from sleeping on it, and her blue eyes were wide and hurt, shiny with unshed tears. I looked from her to Rose who, in comparison to Avery with her plain but pretty looks, looked mysterious and exotic… my kind of beautiful.

Rose broke from my hold and sat up, her eyes blazing. "He didn't exactly ask you to kiss him."

"I didn't ask you," Avery wailed, cheeks flushed.

"I did," I corrected her, not without frustration. "She's right and you know it. You kissed me under your own terms. Don't blame me if it backfired."

Avery's eyes flashed a little behind the veil of tears. "You're not doing yourself any favours, you know. The audience will hate you for leading on two girls. I say you need to pick soon, or you'll be the laughing stock of Panem for thinking you could get away with this," Avery informed me tetchily.

"You know the audience sees everything? They'll know exactly what you're up to. Oh, and maybe it's escaped your notice, but I already have 'picked.'" I gestured to Rose. "I thought I made that obvious last night."

Avery looked speechless, and Rose was smirking. I unzipped the sleeping bag—not before noting the temperature of Rose's skin; dread coursed through me as I realised she might be feverish—and sat up, reaching for my socks. I laced my boots and threw on my jacket before slipping my stake into my belt and strapping the bow and quiver of arrows onto my shoulder.

"I'm going hunting," I announced—my cover for the feast—and thrust a dagger into Rose's hand. "Avery, you're coming with me. Rose," I reached down and touched her cheek, "Be safe. Everything you need is in the first aid kit, if it comes to that, and you can use those if someone happens to stumble across you." I gestured to the dagger in her hand and her stake, which was beside her sleeping bag.

"Why can't I come?" Rose whined.

"You're not well enough." As I said this, I recalled the burning temperature of her skin. Her face was sallow and sickly looking, dotted with spots of feverish red along her cheekbones. I turned away, trying not to think about how bad her wound must be.

Rose looked like she wanted to argue with me, but stopped herself. "Fine."

"And you can cook up one of the fish if you get hungry." I pointed to the rocks, where the fish were lined up.

She wrinkled her nose and raised an unconscious hand to her bandaged stomach. "No thanks."

I shrugged, but felt my eyes tighten with worry. Something was seriously wrong if Rose wasn't eating. I could fix that, if I could just get to the banquet and back in one piece. I leaned down and kissed Rose's forehead. "See you later. We might be all day; there's no game round here."

"Be safe," Rose murmured, echoing my earlier words. She touched my cheek gently.

"Can we go now?" Avery asked, inspecting her mud-caked nails. I grimaced and stood, spared Rose one last glance, and followed Avery out of the clearing.

We walked for a while in silence. Avery had to double her pace to keep up with me—I was walking faster than usual, and my legs were much longer than hers. I probably had better stamina, too.

"We're not really going hunting, are we? I heard about the feast," Avery said finally as we followed the river up stream. I kept my eyes on the trees ahead and said nothing. "Another thing," she continued, "why haven't I got a weapon?"

"Because I don't trust you with one yet," I answered indifferently, examining my stake to highlight the irony. "I would've been willing to change my mind if you hadn't pulled that little stunt last night."

"And who made you the boss, Mr. High and Mighty?" she asked grumpily, still half-jogging to keep up with me.

"You're the one who came to our camp. It's your own fault Rose and I don't trust you with a weapon."

She grinned as she paced alongside me. "Afraid I'll turn on you?"

"Something like that. But I'm willing to give you a chance first. If you ruin it for yourself, hard luck."

Avery fell silent after that, and didn't look up from the ground. We walked for an hour or so, and were making good progress, when she tripped over a log and lay sprawled on the ground, clutching her ankle.

"It hurts, Dimitri. I think it's broken," she wailed, tears springing in her eyes. I bent down and probed her ankle, twisting it slightly to one side.

Avery screamed. "_What was that for_?"

"Just checking." I stood up and began to walk away. Her ankle really was broken, so she'd have a hard time getting back to Rose. If I ran to the feast and back, she wouldn't be alone with her for too long.

"Where are you going?" she called.

I turned to stare at her incredulously. "I have a feast to get to, and I'm already late." I pointed at the sun, which was high in the sky. "Remember, Avery, I've chosen. Rose is more important to me than you'll ever be, and her life depends on this. I trust you can find your own way back to wherever it is you're going."

"Wait!" she cried. I sighed and turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. "At least bring me back my pack."

I nodded reluctantly and left the clearing despite her continuing protests.

As an afterthought, I ran back to where she was trying to pick herself up off the ground. She glanced at me questioningly, only seeming to realise what I was doing as the blunt end of my stake hit her. She crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Without turning back, I broke into a steady jog in the direction of cornucopia, the position of the sun telling me it was early afternoon. That didn't give me very much time to get to the feast. But then, I'd have even less time to get back.

Did Avery really pose that much of a threat to us, I wondered. She had no weapons, no food and a broken ankle. Plus she was unconscious. What could she do to us, really?

She was sneaky, though, and calculating. Maybe she didn't need a weapon to take us out of the picture. I cut my thoughts off there, because I was getting myself into a state worrying about Rose.

I had one more thought before I shut down my mind and concentrated on running.

_I hope I'm not too late_.


	11. Retribution

**Hey... sorry, I know it took me a looooooong time to update, but my relationship with my laptop has been on the rocks:(**

**For starters: thannnnkkk yoooouuu to all my reviewers, who stick with me even when i neglect them and don't update: Potatohead98, Ximara1398, RandomnessQueen1, kittenxxkisses, Cherryblossom2198, BabyRaRa, Phoebe, Rosett, mParis, Vampiregurl11, KiraDrozdov, FireOpals, Guest, littlebadgirl2904, Guest, Guest, Guest and :D that's waaaay more than i was expecting, so THANKS:D**

**This chapter is dedicated is , whose review gave me the kick up the ass i needed to update this, so special thank you to her:D**

**AAAAAllsoo, i wanted to bring up Phoebe's review... I really appreciate the constructive criticism and in all honesty, i was already aware of some of the points she made:L i started writing this story about a year ago, and back then i didnt really rein my imagination in much, and that is the reason for some of the downright stupid shit in this story:P like the whole 'okay' argument and the level 12 and stuff:L and, i didnt make Dimitri and Rose win every fight because they're only human and i thought, after giving them a level 12 that might be too much:D Last thing: i know this story isnt particularly brutal or hunger games-y, but i'm trying to incorporate the right amount of VA WITH the HG action and gore and stuff:P**

**To continue this incredibly long AN, i wrote some of this chapter from the perspective of the slightly delusional and delightfully evil Avery... I'm kind of ashamed to say it was really fun to be an evil mastermind for a while:D**

**Whewww, if anyone's still reading, i'd like to conclude with this bombshell:**

**DIMITRI AND ROSE FIND OUT HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT EACH OTHER IN THIS CHAPTER! OMGROFLLOLCBIASDLKHDS****££^$%^&$%&"£$*^&**

**... i KNOW RIGHT?!**

**But first they have to almost die and kill some people:P**

**Oh! And then I make them almost die again:s**

**Watch this space,**

**Annie:D**

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><p>CHAPTER 11 – RETRIBUTION<p>

AVERY POV

I'd always told my mother I was destined for big things.

But had she believed me? No. Had my father? No. My siblings? Of course not. My teachers, my friends, their parents? No.

And yet here I was, starring in a mandatory viewing TV show, outsmarting the two most cunning, skilled tributes the Games had ever seen. Sure, I was being hunted and had picked up a broken ankle trying to get rid of Dimitri, but on the other hand, the whole of Panem was watching me. And I knew the cameras would be showing everything I did, because I had been the most dramatic and controversial tribute I could be. When I won, all the TV chiefs in the Capitol would want me to star in their shows.

I just needed to get rid of all the other tributes first, especially Rose and Dimitri, what with their level 12 and insanely sickening love story.

So what was I going to do? Break them up and kill them, of course. I'd set Rose against Dimitri last night, but the snivelling jerk must've grovelled with her while I was asleep, because when I woke up this morning they were all over each other in that damn sleeping bag, looking every inch the happy couple they were supposed to be.

Now, if I could only make it back to camp before Dimitri did, I could turn Rose against him for good—and then maybe kill her, if I felt like it. Injured the way she was, she would be no match for me and what I had planned for her.

But first, I had to somehow get back to camp with a broken ankle. I'd already tried dragging myself, but that clearly wasn't working, so I lined the inside sole of my boot with sticks and slipped my foot back in, and tucked more twigs in around the sides of my shins to keep my leg straight. When I tried to stand this time, I found it much more manageable, and started the hour long walk back to camp with my makeshift cast.

My ankle felt like it had detached from my leg when I reached the edge of the camp. I hurriedly emptied my boot of twigs before fitting it back on and limping into camp. Rose was lying on one of the sleeping bags with a bored expression on her pallid face.

"Thanks, Dimitri!" I called. "Have fun hunting…or, well, you know…" I trailed off suggestively and limped over to one of the rocks at the river's edge, gasping in pain for extra effect as I massaged my ankle.

"Dimitri? Why was he here?" Rose asked, not without excitement. I smirked. "And what are you doing back?" Her voice turned cold.

"Suspected broken ankle. Dimitri carried me all the way back here. Isn't he so sweet?" I lied smoothly.

"Carried you?" I thought I detected a hint of jealousy in her voice. My plan was working, then. "Why didn't he bring you into camp? I would've liked to see him."

"He didn't want to see you. Told me you were getting too clingy. Might want to sort that out." I had to physically stop myself from laughing at the dumbfounded look on her face.

"You're lying," Rose responded suspiciously.

"I'm telling the honest truth," I objected. "It's Dimitri who lied."

That stopped her. Her whole body froze up, her eyes widening to saucers. "Now, you're definitely lying."

I shook my head. "I'm not. Dimitri told you he was going hunting. He's not. He's going to a feast the Gamemakers set up, and he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to come with him."

Something in my voice must've sounded genuine, because the first flicker of uncertainty crossed her face. I patted the cool surface of the rock beside me. "Come sit with me."

Rose shrugged off her jacket and complied without a word. I noticed her midriff was exposed because of her cropped shirt, and her stomach had been wrapped in once-clean white bandages, which were now stained with blood. Her gait, too, was slightly off… uneven, like she was light-headed. She seated herself on the rock beside me, somewhat suspiciously.

"I don't bite, you know," I joked. Silence. "Listen, Rose, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I honestly think that was all because of Dimitri. Now that he's gone, maybe we can be… friends."

Rose glanced at me sideways. "And how exactly did Dimitri cause all of this?"

"You really want to know?" I tried to sound unsure.

She nodded curtly.

"Well, he told me last night that he'd never loved you, and this whole thing was an act to win sponsors. He said he'd fallen in love with me the second I'd walked into the clearing, and then he kissed me. When you woke up, he tried to blame the entire thing on me! I thought he loved me and not you, but then I woke up this morning and found him over there with you…" I pointed at her sleeping bag. "When you were awake, he treated me like garbage, but when we left the clearing," I shrugged, "he was all over me again."

"I've known Dimitri since I was a kid, and I've known you a day. Why should I believe you?"

"Yes," I agreed slowly. "But you haven't liked Dimitri the entire time you're known him, have you? He told me all about it." I had no idea what I was really talking about, but I knew I was getting close when Rose turned to stare at me with wide, bloodshot eyes.

"Anyone could know that," she murmured, almost to herself. "Anyone could've heard the story."

I blew out a deep breath and tried to remember everything Auntie Effie had told me about Rose and Dimitri. The poor innocent creature thought I was using the information to ally with them.

Little did she know her blunder might be the death of her precious district 12.

"He calls you Roza, and you call him Comrade." I made my voice sound sure, but Rose was still sceptical.

"Everyone knows that," she responded impassively.

"You defeated every one of those riot guys in your training session."

"Common sense." She was starting to lose interest in me. Damn.

I thought hard about my next guess. "Your token," I said suddenly. "A silver chain. It has a stake pendant, but most people think it's a butter knife." Rose had used those exact words to describe it, and the only person present had been Dimitri.

Or so they thought.

Ever since their amazing reception at the opening ceremony, I'd been listening in at mealtimes, subtly following them at training and eavesdropping on the roof.

They were my biggest competition. And the best part? They hadn't even noticed my stalking. I'd jeopardised my own preparation for the Games to monitor theirs; I needed every piece of information I could get if I was going to take them out.

Rose cleared her throat suddenly, a disbelieving frown pulling at her lips—not like she didn't believe me, though. Like she didn't _want_ to believe me, but had no choice.

"What else has he been saying?" Her voice broke several times. I shoved the urge to cackle gleefully to the back of my mind.

"Lots of things. I caught the general gist of most of it, though. He doesn't love you; he never has, and he's only participating in this whole charade to keep the viewers in the Capitol happy. The girl he was talking about on the night of the interviews was me, not you. Dimitri would've left you behind long ago had it not been for the new rule—how two tributes can win and all that. And—"

Rose collapsed on her sleeping bag and curled in on herself with her back to me. "I get the idea," she interrupted, her voice hard and unemotional. "I'm going to get some sleep." Moments later, her breathing evened out and the clearing fell silent.

_Job well done_, I congratulated myself. A trained actress couldn't have convinced her better. This damned show was turning out to be simple—nothing more than a display of my many talents.

And I had Auntie Effie to thank—besides myself, of course. I still remembered her from when I was very young, growing up in District 3. She was my mother's older sister, and had fled the district under the cover of darkness on the night of her eighteenth birthday. I assumed she'd changed her last name from Bloom, which was my mother's maiden name, to Trinket, and dyed her hair. The reason for her flamboyance and unintentionally indifferent attitude toward the tributes was that she'd once been in danger of becoming one. Also, sometimes I thought she was overcompensating because she still worried about getting caught. The penalty for fleeing one's district was instant death, and without the right to request a trial. I could see what might be worrying her.

I hopped off my rock and crossed to the precariously stacked rucksacks in the corner of the clearing. I searched all over for weapons, but couldn't find any—not even a broken blade or a rusty dagger. I came to the conclusion that Rose had probably hidden everything when I'd left earlier with Dimitri.

I finally came across a jagged rock that would work just as well for what I had planned. I slammed the blunt side into Rose's already injured temple—not hard enough to kill her, though, I had something much more drawn out and painful planned for her death.

As my hand grazed her forehead, I noticed her skin was unusually warm. I pressed my palm to her head to find she was burning up with fever.

Perfect.

I grinned and searched her sprawled, unconscious body for her stake, but came up empty. With a shrug, I straightened up and unzipped my jacket.

_They thought I came here with nothing_, I thought craftily, and lifted my shirt. Coiled tightly around my stomach was a four metre length of thin but strong rope. I'd been saving it for a special occasion.

I unwrapped it and laid it across one of the rocks by the river before bringing my jagged stone down repeatedly, fraying, and finally breaking, the rope. I did this once more, creating two one metre lengths and one two metre length. I'd worked up a sweat with the work, but I ignored the stickiness of my clothes and got to work tying Rose's wrists and ankles up. It was awkward, but a lot less difficult than if she'd been conscious.

Her fever looked like it was getting worse. A film of sweat shone on her forehead and neck, and her face was an almost unnatural—and horribly unattractive—shade of red. This would just make my job so much easier. I dragged Rose over to a patch of strong sunlight and pulled the sleeping bag over her head. All that remained of her was her feet, bound tightly together by my rope. A look at the sky revealed that the sun had just started sinking below the horizon; Dimitri was probably poised and ready to spring at the feast. With that thought still in my mind, I gathered what I needed and climbed a tree at the edge of the clearing, where I would wait for Dimitri to return.

He wouldn't know what had hit him.

DPOV

Any minute now. The sun had just disappeared in the sky, which was dusty pink in colour. I could see someone poised to run on the other side of the arena from me, and someone else was rustling the leaves over to my right somewhere.

Suddenly the ground by the cornucopia split in two and a round table with a snowy white tablecloth began to rise. Before it had even clicked into place I was gone, using my long legs to propel me forward at incredible speeds. I reached the table first and swiped both the tiny black bag labelled twelve and the slightly bigger blue one labelled with a three.

I turned to run, but found my path was blocked by a small brunette girl clutching a knife. There was something childish about her features, though she appeared to be approximately my age.

She swung at me, but I ducked and jumped out of the way before continuing on my route out of the clearing. My battle plan at this particular blood bath was flee, don't fight. Fighting would only waste time I didn't have to lose.

I heard the faint whistle of the knife before I felt its sharp blade puncture the skin of my back, just below my left shoulder blade. Thankfully, it hadn't struck too deep, and I yanked it out with a grimace as I entered the forest running.

The journey back seemed longer than ever as my feet pounded against the forest floor and I tried to swerve tree while, in my mind's eye, I was picturing all the horrible things Avery could be doing to Rose. This just made me run faster.

I only stopped running when I was about ten metres from the clearing, and slowed to a cautious walk. I stashed my weapons underneath some moss to keep them from Avery, and walked on.

I broke through the trees and found the land looked almost untouched. Avery's sleeping bag was still spread neatly on the ground, whereas Rose's lay in a pile by the river's edge. The fish remained on the rocks; I could almost taste their stifling, and slightly off, scent from here. I moved to turn, but something cam flying through the air and crashed into the back of my head, and the Arena turned into nothing more than a black haze.

When I opened my eyes, my vantage point had changed. Instead of standing in the middle of the clearing, I was sitting at the edge of it.

And I was tied to a tree.

A long length of rope was bound around my chest and knotted on the other side of the trunk, but I couldn't reach it. My arms were folded behind me and were cramping painfully, but I ignored them, because I'd suddenly realised Rose's sleeping bag wasn't just Rose's sleeping bag.

It was Rose _in_ her sleeping bag.

I immediately tried to pull away from the tree, but all that resulted in was a tight pain in my chest. I fell back and caught a slight glimpse of silver in a patched of turned soil.

The hilt of the dagger I'd given Rose.

I didn't consider it, just checked if Avery was in the clearing—which she wasn't—and tried to shuffle around the trunk. My arms stayed pinned to the tree where the knot was tied, and my joints tugged painfully as they stretched.

I winced and bit down on my lip, but didn't cry out in case Avery was close. My feet closed around the dagger's hilt and pulled, but it slipped. I cursed and tried again, and this time it pulled free smoothly. I knew the cameras would be airing this, and having the whole of Panem's eyes on me seemed to mount on the pressure so that it felt like a tangible thing, a physical weight pressing down on me.

I pulled the dagger closer and kicked it behind the tree before slipping on my arms down to pick it up. It opened bloody welts on my forearm, but I didn't care. I had the dagger in my hand; I could do anything.

I gripped the hilt awkwardly and sawed at the rope until my hands were burned and bleeding, With unswerving perseverance I didn't know I possessed, I hacked at the cord until all the loops fell away and I could move my arms—it was agony, but I could mull that over later.

I collapsed when I tried to stand, so I half-crawled, half-dragged myself over to Rose's sleeping bag. I zipped it down hurriedly, and yanked the hypodermic needle from my boot. I'd stashed it there earlier to hide it from Avery, who would undoubtedly steal it if she really was this hell-bent on destroying Rose. I'd left the box in the backpack, but Avery would soon discover it was empty. And when she did…

It was a race against the clock.

I jammed the needle into Rose's arm and pressed down on the plunger before hurling it aside and staring down at her, wiling her to gain consciousness.

Nothing happened.

A few things became apparent to me then. The worryingly shallow breaths she was taking. The alarming red of her face. I felt her pulse and had to double-check it to make sure I was right. It was so faint I thought I was imagining it. And the worst part was that the needle didn't seem to have had any effect on her.

I rolled her onto her back and immediately flung myself into doing compressions. Rose's breathing seemed to slow down, if anything. I shook my head as I realised what I had to do.

I brought my face down to Rose's and started mouth-to-mouth. Trying to keep my compressions got more difficult as I got increasingly more panicked.

Finally, she started to breathe independently and rolled weakly to one side. She coughed, a great, wracking sound that tore from her throat, and turned to face me. Her eyes were full of venom.

"Did you—did you just—?" Rose rubbed a hand over her mouth in disgust. I recoiled in confusion: why did she look like she hated me?

"It—it was the only way to save you," I murmured, trailing it up at the end so it sounded like a question.

A low scream of rage that gradually grew in pitch echoed through the trees not far from us. Avery had found the empty box.

"Listen; no matter how much you hate me right now, for whatever reason, I need you to run. I need you to run as far and as fast as you can away from here. I'll find you." My voice broke several times as I spoke, but Rose wasn't convinced.

She stood without a word and stalked unsteadily out of the clearing. She turned back at the last second and glared at me. "Do one thing for me, Dimitri, if you can manage that much." She paused, swaying on the spot. "Don't act like you care."

She left, and I watched the spot where she'd disappeared for what seemed like an age. I couldn't understand what I'd done to make her feel such hostility toward me, but I didn't have time to think it over.

Avery had arrived.

ADRIAN POV

Everything was running perfectly. Rose and Dimitri had, unknowingly, incorporated just the right amount of drama, gore, loss, suspense and most importantly, romance, into their story to make it irresistible to the Capitol audience. They were the talk of the entire city; all the other tributes had been left choking on dust.

I was really on the edge of my seat now, though. This Avery character was smart, never going for the obvious attack. She had definitely been keeping her eye on Rose and Dimitri for a while now, too, to know so much about them. I would've applauded her cunning had she been one of my tributes, but she was about to unleash hell on Dimitri, so I held my cheers.

Avery stalked back into the clearing, her eyes immediately flicking from the tree she'd tied Dimitri to to Rose's sleeping bag. "Damn it!" she half-screamed.

Dimitri, in a rage, strode over to her and backed her up against a tree. He lifted her about a foot off the ground and held her against the trunk with only one arm, which was pressed against her neck. I knew what it was like to be in her position. Absolutely terrifying. "What did you say to her?"

Avery remained stiff-lipped and silent.

I could see Dimitri losing his patience. "What did you say to Roza?" he growled. It sounded like he was fighting to keep his voice steady—and failing miserably.

"I told her you didn't love her and that you were only pretending to win sponsors. She believed me, too, the stupid bitch. Oh, and I also told her that you loved me." She looked so smug; I felt the urge to hit her.

But I didn't need to; Dimitri did it for me. He growled something inaudible and slammed Avery's head back against the tree trunk, so hard that the microphones hidden under a rock at least four metres away picked up the crack as clear as day.

Avery's head rolled forward at something of an unusual angle, and Dimitri dropped her body in horror as he realised what he'd done.

The cannon fired in the distance.

He'd broken her neck.

I couldn't watch more of them, though, because Rose had just run into trouble. I pulled up her image as she burst through the trees just in time to see one of the careers snapping Mason's neck—eerily co-incidental to what had just happened with Dimitri and Avery.

Mason, wide-eyed and clearly very, very dead, collapsed to the ground at the boy's feet like a rag doll. Rose screamed and pitched forward into a run. She launched herself at the boy and they tumbled to the ground in a clumsy, swearing heap. He used his superior strength to roll them so that he was on top of her, and reached for his knife. Rose was already there, though, and dug the dagger Dimitri had used to cut himself free deep into the boy's chest. Blood sprayed her as she shoved him aside and the cannon fire indicated his death. The girl, who had been giggling at Mason's lifeless body, now looked very, very frightened—and with good reason.

"Isaiah!" she cried, and tried to run. Rose stood and hurled her dagger with expert aim. The blade flew end over end through the air and sunk up to the hilt in the back of the girl's neck. She didn't even have time to scream before she pitched forward, dead.

And then Rose was running, her dagger clutched loosely in one hand. She was sprinting back to the clearing, surprisingly, despite the fact that Dimitri would be there.

Effie returned to the control room suddenly, a coffee cup in each hand. She passed one to me and took her seat beside me, her pink hair bouncing.

"What did I miss?" she asked curiously, her eyes searching the many different screens lining the wall. Most of them had been turned off as each tribute died. The large one in the centre showed Rose still running, though her strides were uneven and unbalanced, and she looked like she was ready to pass out at any moment.

"Dimitri revived Rose and killed that little—" I took a deep breath. "He killed Avery. Then Mason got killed by the careers and Rose killed them. Oh, and she hates Dimitri now after what Camille told her," I reported in a detached tone, my eyes still fixed on the screen.

"Avery's…dead?" Effie swallowed hard. I swear, just for that moment, her Capitol accent was absent. She sounded… normal.

I nodded. "Yeah. I can play it back if you want," I offered politely.

She looked strangely ill. "It's fine."

I shrugged and checked the far-left screen, which showed the location of the tributes, transmitted from their tracking devices. The red dot that represented Rose was about to run into Dimitri's blue dot right about...

Now.

She whacked into him and fell back, her footing unbalanced. Her caught her wrists and pulled her into him, but she pushed out of his hold weakly and turned her back to him.

"Why do you keep doing this? One second you care, the next you don't—"

"When have I ever not cared about you?" Before she could interrupt, Dimitri added, "That you've seen with your own eyes and haven't just heard about."

Her eyes narrowed. "That's exactly it. You act like you care when I'm there, but when I'm not…" For a second, I thought she was going to cry, but her expression had changed to one of fury. "You screwed with Avery, and you screwed with me, and the best part is you think you'll get away with it."

Dimitri laughed humourlessly, but I could see that he was dying inside. "I can't believe you'd think that. Roza—" He grabbed her wrist impulsively.

She shook it free and took a step back. "What is your _problem_?" she hissed.

Dimitri looked livid now. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides, and his brows slanted severely over troubled eyes. He was going to snap, and finally say what he'd wanted to for years.

"My problem?" He sounded amused in a sick sort of way. "You want to know what my _problem_ is?"

Rose nodded, chin held high in defiance.

"Well, I'll tell you. My problem is that I love you, Rose. I love how you smile. I love your laugh. I love your name. I love how you call me Comrade, and I love that I can tell you anything. I love how you talk. I love the way you look at me. I love how I can be having the worst day of my life, and seeing you completely changes my mood. I love how you're so good at everything. I love that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever known—inside and out. I love everything about you. And I especially love the fact that, even when I hated you, I still loved you. It's that simple. I love you. I have since I was seven years old. And it breaks my heart to think you'd believe whatever Avery told you over what I did. And the funniest thing? I love you _still_. Maybe I always will. I just can't get away from it," he finished, the emotion in his voice muting it until he was whispering. I found my throat closing over a little at the raw, tortured passion in Dimitri's voice, almost like he was saying a final goodbye to Rose. Effie was sniffling into a pink silk handkerchief beside me.

Rose's face softened, and she stretched her hand out to him. Dimitri didn't notice, though; he had turned on his heel and stalked out of the clearing, with Rose making no move to stop him.

I could almost hear the whole of Panem drawing in a breath: is this how it would end?

I had drawn in a breath, too, but a much more panicked version. I flung myself out of my chair and jabbed a shaking finger at the tracker screen.

"Do you see where he's going?" I cried, and fell back into my seat, my head in my hands. I couldn't watch. This really was the end of Rose and Dimitri.

"Roza!" Dimitri yelled; I could hear the struggle in his voice. "Run!"

"Dimitri?" she cried in response.

"Run!" he screamed, his voice panicked. "You have to get away—"

He cut off abruptly, and I peeked between my fingers to see that Effie had switched Dimitri's image to the main screen.

He was sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood, unconscious. Standing over him were two tributes, a boy and a girl.

He'd run straight into the two remaining careers.

"We have to do something," I announced.

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><p><strong>DON'T KILL ME YET!<strong>

**I have this aaaaaaaall planned out and it's gonna be AWESOME! It's just gonna be action action action for a while, so get readddyyyyy:D (you can tell how pysched i am already!)**

**As always, reviews are appreciated:D if you want to ask a question/tell me what you thought/send me threats for hurting Rose and Dimitri... give that cute lil button down there some love:D**

**Best review gets the chapter dedicated to them:D**

**Annie:)**


	12. AN UBER IMPORTANT AN!

**Hey, guys (if I have any readers left!)! Annie here, obviously:D I just wanted to give you guys an update into what I've been doing this past while. I'll probably post a variation of this on Crossed Wires as well, seeing as it's my most popular story.**

**First off, I'm not going to lie. I sort of lost my way in regards to writing for a while there. I couldn't think, couldn't plan, couldn't write and therefore, couldn't update. My motivation level was literally below zero, especially after I admitted to myself that I might've been putting all my energy into being a writer just to save myself from having to think of something else to do with my life.**

**But anyway, that's not my point. _I CATEGORICALLY REFUSE TO LEAVE MY STORIES UNFINISHED_. That is the bottom line here. However, after receiving some very helpfully critical (thank you, anon!) reviews, I thought it was time to fill you guys in.**

**The true reason why I haven't updated is because I'm embarrassed by the quality of previous chapters of my stories. I was but a naïve thirteen year old when I started writing on FanFiction, and I'm at that age (I'll be sixteen next month) where, with every chapter, my writing is improving and changing into my own style. Which is why…**

**I'm having a huge overhaul of my stories. Seeing as I feel Hungry for You needs the most work, it's the one I've been editing the most (I've been doing this for a few months now). As much as I'm grateful for the aforementioned constructive criticism, I'm writing this just to let you guys know I'm well aware that the maths don't add up, and the story's inconsistent and the characters are painfully OOC, etc etc. And seeing as I'm way too damn proud, I hate the fact that this crappy writing is up here for the world to see with my name attached to it:P it might sound harsh to some people, but that's just the way I am.**

**So, yeah, to finish up my ramble, I have made a firm resolution to start PLANNING my stories beforehand (the lack of this is the reason for a lot of the inconsistencies), and keeping a careful eye that my logic doesn't contradict itself throughout the story. I won't be updating the new chapters until they are all finished so that the story makes sense when read from start to finish. But when I do get them finished (hopefully soonish, although don't expect too much, I _am_ in the middle of my GCSE's) I'll get them up all at once and prove to you, anon, that a VA/HG crossover _can_ work! :D**

**With all that in mind, bear with me guys, there are great things to come from me! And thank you so much to each and every person who's ever so much as clicked on one of my stories, but especially to my lovely reviewers who've stuck with me all this time. You guys know who you are!**

**See you soon,**

**Annie**

**P.S. If everybody could vote on the poll on my profile (concerning this story) that would be amazing. If I have to change the plot, I'd rather do it sooner than later so that I can, in turn, finish this sooner and you guys can read it!**


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